Unstoppable!
by ProfessorPedant
Summary: Harry got more than he expected when he found the Philosopher's Stone in his pocket at the end of First Year. The Stone opened a channel to the power of Cyttorak, turning Harry into an Unstoppable Juggernaut. Super!Harry, HP/Marvel Comics crossover. Harry, Hermione, Dr. Strange, Spider-man, and others. Moved from Crossovers for greater exposure.
1. Chapter 1

**Unstoppable!**

 **Forward**

This is a crossover where Harry gets the (somewhat diminished) power of the Juggernaut at the end of first year. He will interact with a number of Marvel characters over time, but the story will also focus on his time at Hogwarts.

There is a certain synchronicity in life as at the same time I started this story I noticed a Challenge with the same basic "What if..." This is not a response to that challenge, but there may be some similarities. As is to be expected from the premise, this is a Super!Harry story. He still has weaknesses and challenges, but he also has powers not present in the HP canon. Except where specified in the story, I try to assume canon events and interactions. I do not re-write canon unless I feel it necessary, so a whole book may be covered in a chapter.

I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters from those stories. Nor do I own any of the Marvel Comics characters. This story should not be taken as a claim of ownership. It is written in the spirit of Fair Use.

* * *

 **Chapter One**

" _He saw his reflection, pale and scared-looking at first. But a moment later, the reflection smiled at him. It put its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone. It winked and put the Stone back in its pocket – and as it did so, Harry felt something heavy drop into his real pocket. Somehow – incredibly – he'd got the Stone."_ _[HP:PS]_

He could not keep from putting his hand in his pocket to investigate. When his finger brushed against the smooth crystal Harry was surprised to find it warm. Hot even. The heat seemed to rush into his hand and up his arm, growing hotter as it moved. Quickly the burning sensation washed over his whole body. When it hit his curse scar his head seemed to explode, sending him crashing to the floor in agony. Harry had no idea how long he was burning and thrashing. He felt his flailing foot strike the Mirror, sending it spinning away. His right arm pummeled Professor Quirrell, eliciting an anguished cry and flinging the stuttering menace into an unyielding stone wall. The last thing Harry saw before the incredible pain caused him to surrender to unconsciousness was an inky black cloud seeping from under the motionless professor's turban.

Harry woke in the Hospital Wing. It was dark except for the moonlight beaming through the tall windows. "Awake at last, my boy," said Professor Dumbledore quietly as he reached a soothing hand to pat Harry's shoulder. "Lay back. You still need rest." When the Headmaster leaned into a moonbeam and Harry could see the concern in the old wizard's eyes. This was not a sight with which Harry was particularly familiar. Other than Hermione, no one ever worried for Harry's welfare.

"I'm fine, Professor. Really I am," Harry protested weakly, allowing himself to be pushed back into his pillows. Suddenly remembering what had transpired, he jerked upright and spoke in a rush, "How are Ron and Hermione? And … Quirrell was after the Stone!"

"Indeed he was. But you stopped him, keeping him from getting that which he must not have." Professor Dumbledore answered quickly. "Your friends are well. Mr. Wesley sustained a knock to the head which Madam Pomfrey was able to heal quickly, while Miss Granger came out of the adventure unharmed, if not unruffled. All in all I'd say you triumphed beyond what any sensible wizard might have ever expected of a trio of first years. You've much to be proud of. But before Madam Pomfrey comes back and begins another examination I must have your side of the story. I've heard what happened from your compatriots. Please tell me what happened after you went through the fire."

Harry spent the next few minutes telling the Headmaster about his short encounter with Quirrell and the Mirror. At the appropriate moment in the retelling he reached to feel his pocket from the outside, so as to avoid touching the Stone directly. He found he was not wearing his pants. Indeed he seemed to be in an unfamiliar nightshirt. As he looked down to examine his attire, he got his first good look at himself. "Ahhhh! What happened to me?"

"We are still trying to determine that, but somehow you seem to have absorbed the Philosopher's Stone and it's sparkled some significant changes in your body."

"Changes? I'm HUGE!" Harry could see his shoulders seemed to be so broad that he barely fit on the hospital bed. His feet actually stuck out past the rail at the foot of the bed. His hands were like beater bats and he could barely see over his massive chest. He jumped out of bed and rushed to a mirror hanging on the ward's wall. Staring at his reflection, he touched his face to be sure it was indeed _his_ reflection in the mirror. He looked like a clean shaven Hagrid.

"Yes, you are," the Headmaster agreed calmly. He strode to stand beside Harry and the boy could see that he was not really a giant, but he was almost as tall as the old wizard and easily twice as wide. "Whatever happened to you does seem to have caused a massive growth spurt. You're larger now than you likely would have grown to be as an adult. And you have a few odd accoutrements as well." The Headmaster pointed at Harry's wrists where a blood red band encircled each of his lower arms. Then he gestured to Harry's chest, where a blood red gem seemed to be embedded in his sternum, pulsing faintly with each beat of his heart.

"Is that …"

"The Philosopher's Stone? It is. And Madam Pomfrey tells me that it cannot be removed. In fact it seems to resist all magical and physical forces we were willing to try on it."

"And these?" Harry felt the bands on his wrists. They felt like metal, but were neither warm nor cold to the touch. He could feel magic that seemed to be streaming through them, from the tops of the bands towards his hands, but the energy was contained within the bands. He tapped the two bands together to hear if they clanged, but they made no noise at all.

"They seem to be made of an otherworldly energy in solid form, and again they resist anything we were willing to do to them. There is something vaguely familiar about them, but I'll need to spend some time researching to find out more."

" _Ahem..._ " Madam Pomfrey stood in the door to her office and glared at Harry and the Headmaster. "Why are you out of bed, Mr. Potter? Headmaster, I'll thank you not to so disturb my patients. It's almost breakfast time. Might I suggest you join the staff and students in the Great Hall while I give Mr. Potter a proper examination now that he's awake?"

"I suppose I have my orders, my boy. I hope to see you again soon. We still have much to talk about."

Harry spoke before the Professor reached the door. "Sir, what happened to Professor Quirrell?"

The Headmaster looked at him silently for several seconds before replying quite seriously. "He is dead. He was possessed by a dark spirit. The encounter with you, and the protection conferred upon you by your Mother's sacrifice, was too much for him. No one could have survived that sort of possession for that length of time."

"The spirit was Voldemort?" Harry paused as the Matron gasped. "He's not really dead, is he?"

"No, not as such." After a moment of contemplation the twinkle returned to the Headmaster's eyes. "But that is a conversation for another time. For now I want you to concentrate on your recovery. Once our dear Madam Pomfrey has cleared you we'll address these other issues." With a nod of his head to the Matron, the Headmaster left the ward.

It was two more days of tests and potions before Madam Pomfrey was satisfied Harry's condition was stable and she would learn nothing more about his changes. During that time Harry had no visitors. He thought it was because Hermione and Ron were mad at him for leading them into trouble. The thought that they were mad at him made the young wizard sad. A voice in the back of his head was telling him they were right to avoid him and that a freak like him, even more of a freak now, did not deserve friends. Although it had been so nice to have them for a while.

When Madam Pomfrey left the ward harry snuck a look at his file. While her neat writing was easy to read, most of what was in the file was meaningless to him. Other than a notation that her diagnostic charms were having significantly reduced effects on him, most of what he was able to understand was about his physical changes. His had grown from 4' 6" to 5' 10" and from 75 pounds to 385 pounds. He no longer needed his glasses to see clearly. His strength had increased an unknown amount, beyond that explained by his increase in size. The Matron did not have any strength tests she was willing to use on a recovering invalid. His file said the crystal in his chest did not seem to be interfering with his respiratory or circulatory systems. Harry took that to mean that he was having no trouble breathing or his heart beating. Nor did the arm bands seem to be having any negative effect on him. If anything they seemed to be aiding in the recovery of his magic over time. Most amazing of all was that his curse scar was gone. Nothing in the notes said why but it was fading when he was brought to the Hospital and had healed completely since he woke up. At the end of the second day she cast one last spell on him, frowned at the lack of results, then told him he was free to go.

"Ummm…," Harry muttered when looking at his uniform hung neatly in the wardrobe next to his bed. Madam Pomfrey watched as Harry held his shirt against his chest. It was obviously too small for him. He looked at her beseechingly.

"Yes. Well we can do something about that at least." The Matron waved her wand and his clothes grew. The fit was not perfect, but he was not splitting his trouser or shirt seams when he put them on and the enlarged robe Harry wore over top hide most imperfections. He made sure both the crystal and the bands were covered.

"Thank you."

"Well it'll not last for more than a week or two, so you'll need to pick up new uniforms for next year. I'll mention it to Professor McGonagall. Now please be careful. I don't want to see you in here for the rest of the year, preferably much longer. But that might be asking too much. Just like your father, you are." The Matron paused a moment, looking up at him. "Well, maybe a might bigger than him now. Go on. It's almost lunch. You should go meet your friends in the Great Hall. I've had Morgana's own time keeping them out of here while you recovered."

Harry smiled both because he was happy to be getting out of his least favorite part of the Castle and because he now knew his friends had been trying to see him all along. Once out of the Hospital wing he made his way to the Great Hall. The corridors were packed with students all going towards the same destination. Harry was surprised than none of them were staring at him. He caught a few glances, but mostly people were trying to avoid bumping into him. He realized he was one of the largest students in the corridors. Harry saw Marcus Flint, the hulking Slytherin Quidditch captain, go past and realized he was now bigger than that brute. Eventually the crowd flowed into the Great Hall. Harry paused for a moment in the doorway to look for Ron and Hermione. He did not notice when three people bounced off of him. After that the other students flowed around him like a boulder in a stream. Soon he spotted his friends seated at the bottom of the Gryffindor table. He rushed over and called out, "Hermione! Ron!"

All motion in the Hall stopped as Harry's new deeper voice boomed across the House tables. The two young Gryffindors thusly addressed started and whirled to see who was calling them. They stopped. They stared. Then Hermione leapt on the bench and threw her arms around Harry's neck. He expected to get knocked back from the impact, but she felt like a feather borne on a gentle breeze brushing against him. "Harry! You're okay. I was so worried. Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let us into the hospital and Professor McGonagall wouldn't tell us how you were, only that you were recovering. What happened to you? Why are you so much bigger? Is this going to last or …" Hermione paused for a moment as she ran out of oxygen.

"Blimey! Is that you Harry?" Ron stared at him suspiciously. "Hermione, I think you should step away from him."

"What? Ron? Don't be silly. Professor Dumbledore said there had been a slight mishap and that Harry had magically grown."

"Thank goodness," Harry said quietly when he realized that all eyes were on them. "I'm glad he said something. I didn't know how to explain this … all this."

"Please have a seat, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall's no-nonsense tone was a comfort in its familiarity. "You are blocking access for other students." Harry quickly sat at the end of the bench. There were enough other students on the bench that it did not raise into the air, though they did look at him as they all felt him sit.

"Are you two alright?" Harry asked as he pulled food to his plate. Ron just nodded, still looking somewhat askance at this friend.

"We were released the next morning," Hermione answered. "But we've been so worried about you. What happened?" The last was said in a forceful whisper.

"I'll tell you later, but not here," Harry said quietly, or so he thought. Several nearby students looked at him and he realized he needed to learn to modulate his voice better.

"Not much later," Ron said. "The Leaving Feast is tonight. We go home tomorrow."

"Right," Harry muttered. His thoughts immediately went to Privet Drive and how his relatives would react to his changes. His friends could see that something was bothering him.

"How about we go for a walk around the lake after lunch? We can talk privately then." Hermione hesitantly placed her hand on Harry's and squeezed. He did not respond. He did not even feel she had done so.

"That sounds good. Afterwards I have to talk to Professor Dumbledore." Harry decided to ask the Headmaster if he might be able to stay at Hogwarts over the summer, especially given the recent changes. He really did not want to try to explain his new body to the Dursleys.

The three friends wandered out of the castle into the warm early summer daylight and started towards the Black Lake. Before they had gone a dozen yards three figures seemed to appear in their path. "Merlin's Balls Scarhead," Draco sneered as he, Crabbe, and Goyle blocked the way. "I never knew your mother actually bred with Dumbledore's oaf. I suppose I can't even call you Potter any more. Harry Hagrid. Seems fitting somehow." Draco's bookends laughed at what passed for Draco's wit. Harry started forward. Hermione, walking on Harry's right side, grabbed his forearm, trying to hold him back. She was pulled off her feet as Harry reached for his wand.

"Ahhh!" Hermione screamed as she was whipped towards the Slytherins. Harry realized what was happening and managed to grab her before she went flying. He swung her around to his left, where Ron caught her and they set her gently on her feet. Draco and his goons just stared, hands frozen halfway to their wands.

"Harry, ignore them," Hermione pleaded. "Please. It's not worth getting into trouble on the last day of school."

"Too right, mate," Ron reluctantly agreed. "They probably have Snape hidden watching, waiting to spring out and give us detentions or something." Harry looked at the Slytherins and growled. They stepped back and readied their wands. Harry sighed and shook his head. Without a word he stomped forward forcing the three troublemakers to step out of his way. Goyle tried to stand his ground and was knocked off his feet when Harry's massive shoulder brushed him aside. Hermione and Ron followed through the opening.

"Where do you think you are going, half-breed?" Draco shouted. "Don't turn your back on my when I am talking to you. _Diffindo!"_ Draco cast the Severing Charm at Harry's broad back. Ron and Hermione watched as the spell passed between them to splash against Harry. The cloth of his robe and shirt were neatly sliced, but the skin beneath remained untouched. Harry turned around, walked up to Draco, who stared up at him dumbfounded, and said "Boo!" Draco let out a high pitched "eeep!" He turned, and ran for the Castle, followed closely by his bodyguards.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked, examining his sliced clothes, looking for any sign of injury.

"One of the things I found out during my stay in the prison, I mean hospital wing, was that I seem to be resistant to many or most spells." Harry kept his eyes on the running boys. Making sure they did not turn back to attack.

"So you knew that one wouldn't hurt you?" Ron asked.

"No for certain," Harry admitted. "I don't think we tried that one. I don't think I've heard it before. What does it do?"

"Harry!" The three friends continued their walk. Hermione thought about the encounter with the Slytherins and Harry's effortless manhandling of her. "I know you're much bigger now, but you seem to be much stronger too."

"Yeah," Harry admitted.

"How strong are you?" Ron asked. "As strong as Hagrid? As strong as that troll?" Harry just shrugged. "Let's test it and see." Ron was getting excited. He looked around the shore of the lake. It was rocky in this section. The ground was sown with rocks left behind by a long ago glacier. Ron found a stone about twice the size of his head. He tried to lift it and could not budge it. "Can you lift this?"

Harry grabbed it with both hands like it was a bowling ball. He lifted it easily, not even noticing its weight. He tossed it into the lake, where is sank with a loud splash. Ron pointed to another stone almost twice the size of the first. Again Harry had no trouble lifting and throwing it. As there were no larger stones loose on the shore they continued. Eventually they came to a spot where a rock shelf had broken off and was leaning against another large boulder, forming a small cave. "I bet you can't lift that," Ron taunted, pointing to the massive flat rock.

"That must weight tonnes," Hermione protested. "It would take a super to lift that."

"A what?" Ron asked.

"A super, sometimes called a metahuman," Hermione starter to lecture. "Much more common in the US than in Britain, superheroes and villains have been publicly active since World War II. They've become much more common since the late 1960's. Some of the most famous include the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. Even Britain has a super group known as Excalibur. Thor or the Thing or Captain Britain might be able to lift that, but no normal human could possibly do so."

While Hermione was talking, Harry walked over to the rock and looked for a way to grab it. He found what he thought would be working handholds then lifted. Ron and Hermione looked on silent in shock as Harry lifted the multi-ton sheet of stone over his head. Unfortunately the stone could not support its own weight in that position and with a resounding crack it began to crumble around Harry's head. In seconds he was completely buried in small boulders and rubble. Ron and Hermione started to dig him out, but even with magic they could not shift the large rocks. Suddenly the rocks began to rumble and shift. Harry's hand thrust upward, flipping one of the larger stones out of the way. This was followed by Harry moving boulders like they were beanbags. In seconds he was free. A quick examination showed he was none the worse for the wear, though the same could not be said of his robes. Several _reparos_ managed to alleviate that issue.

"So . . . Pretty strong then," Ron finally stated. Harry did not know what to make of the way his best mate was staring at him.

"Definitely superhuman level," Hermione concurred.

"Great," Harry muttered. Even though he had never been allowed to watch TV, not even the news, Harry had still heard of supers. Unsurprisingly Uncle Vernon had nothing good to say about them. He called them muties and freaks. Harry realized that Uncle Vernon called so many different types of people freak the word was effectively meaningless. Harry grew silent as they continued around the lake. His friends left him to his thoughts. When they returned to the castle Harry said, "I have to talk with the Headmaster. I'll see you at the Feast."

"We'll save you a seat," Hermione replied softly. She reached out to squeeze his hand. He saw it and very carefully squeezed back. Harry could tell it was still too hard from Hermione's poorly hidden grimace. He dropped her hand and quietly made his way to the Headmaster's office.

"How can I help you, my boy?" Professor Dumbledore asked once Harry was comfortably seated in the Headmaster's office. The old wizard had conjured a specially reinforced chair to better hold Harry's weight after the original chair collapsed under him.

"Have you found out anything about the Stone or these arm bands? You told me you'd look into it."

"If I'd found anything you needed to know I would have told you. I'll keep looking but for now we'll just have to work with what we know." Professor Dumbledore watched as Harry seemed to be working towards saying something. "Was there anything else, Mr. Potter?"

"I was wondering if there was any way I could stay at Hogwarts for the summer. I really don't think it is a good idea for me to go back to the Dursleys. They're never going to understand what's happened to me. And I really don't know my own strength. I might accidentally tear up the house or even … hurt someone. And there won't be anyone around that can fix it with magic. And ..." he finished in a much more subdued voice, "I really don't like it there. I'm happy here. Please can't I stay?"

"I'm very sorry, Harry. There are some very good reasons you have to stay with your family over the summer. It's essential. But don't let this make you unhappy. I'll send a note to your Aunt explaining what has happened and reminding her why it's so important that you are kept safe in your family's home. And remember it's only a short while. September 1st will be here before you know it."

"Yes, sir," Harry said as he slowly rose to his feet. He stepped slowly to the door.

"Have a good summer, my boy. I will see you in September." Harry did not acknowledge the Headmaster's farewell.

Harry went back to his dorm to pack for the summer. He emptied his trunk onto the bed and sorted through all the various books, equipment, parchment, inkpots, and quills. He took out all the clothes, both his Hogwarts uniforms and his grungy hand-me-downs from Dudley. None of them, not even the baggiest sweatpants, came close to fitting. He set them all aside. He carefully put his beloved Nimbus into the trunk, as always amazed that the broom fit into the seemingly shorter carrier. He organized all of his belongings, using some of the old clothes as padding to ensure that nothing would spill or break during transit. He made sure his father's cloak had pride of place and was easily retrieved. When he was through there was a pile of discards and detritus left on his bed. He decided to deal with that after the feast. Still dressed in his enlarged uniform Harry made his way to the Common Room.

Professor McGonagall was waiting for him. "Mr. Potter, you'll need a new wardrobe. For tonight you can wear the night shirt Madam Pomfrey provided, and this outfit," she paused and waved her wand silently. His clothes seemed to refresh themselves and became a trifle more fitted. "…will do for this evening and the ride home." She conjured a pair of jeans and a red pull over. "You can change into these before you get off the Express. Beware these will only last three days. Your family will need to take you shopping for muggle attire for the summer and, of course, you'll need to buy all new uniforms before the next term. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Good. One last thing," She handed him an envelope. He saw that it was addressed to Mrs. Petunia Dursley. "You'll need to give this to your Aunt as soon as may be."

"Yes, Professor."

"Now please make your way to the feast. You shouldn't be late."

The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Harry. Professor Dumbledore's shenanigans to make sure that Gryffindor won the House Cup and his friends proud cheering were all muted as Harry fretted about his upcoming return to the Dursleys. The feast tasted like dust.


	2. Chapter 2

**Unstoppable!**

I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters from those stories. Nor do I own any of the Marvel Comics characters. This story should not be taken as a claim of ownership. It is written in the spirit of Fair Use.

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

Harry was trembling when we walked through the portal separating Platform 9 ¾ from the rest of King's Cross Station. Hermione was holding his hand, trying to help him calm his nerves. They saw her parents first.

"Buttercup!" exclaimed a petite, curly haired blond woman as she rushed up to Hermione. The preteen genius released Harry and launched herself into her mother's arms. The intensity of the hug and the evident feelings it expressed brought tears to Harry's eyes. A brown haired man a few inches taller than Harry, though nowhere near as broad, looked at him suspiciously then joined the two Granger ladies in a three way hug.

"Daddy!" Hermione squealed. Her father pushed Hermione to arm's length and examined her closely. He smiled at what he saw. Then he tucked her under his arm and turned to Harry.

"Who's your friend, Buttercup?"

"Mum, Daddy, this is my friend Harry. I wrote you about him."

"Dear heart, I thought Harry was in your year." Mrs. Granger looked at the boy questioningly. Harry looked down and started to step back. Hermione separated herself from her father and reached out to him.

"This is that Harry. He had a bit of an _accident_ ," she stress the word while looking around at the people nearby, "It sparked an unexpected growth spurt. Harry, these are my parents."

"Mr. Granger," Harry said as he hesitantly held out his hand. He had never gone through the formal introduction ritual but he had seen it enough to try to get it right.

"You're really 12 years old?" Mr. Granger asked, reaching for, but not yet taking, Harry's hand.

"No sir," Harry replied, keeping his hand out there. His stubbornness was engaged and there was no way he was going to take his hand back unless the man rejected him outright. "Not for another month and a half. I'm still 11."

"Alright then," Mr. Granger finally took the offered hand. Listening, the dentist could tell that the boy's voice, while deep from his large frame, _was_ still a boy's voice and had not gone through puberty. "Nice to meet you. Is your family meeting you here?"

Harry shuddered at the mention of his relatives. He looked around the station, realizing he could now see over many of the commuters' heads. He spotted his aunt near the street entrance. A moment later he saw his uncle and cousin at a kiosk near her. "Yes. I should probably go look for them. They'll not want to be kept waiting."

"Oh Harry, please take care of yourself. Here's my number. You already gave me yours so I'll call you soon. We can arrange to get together sometime this summer." Hermione gave him a final hug, then left with her parents. Harry hefted his trunk and Hedwig's cage and reluctantly made his way to his relatives.

Aunt Petunia looked right past him as her approached, not recognizing him. He stopped and was about to call her attention when his uncle waddled up aggressively placing himself between his wife and the hulking stranger.

"What do you want?" Uncle Vernon blustered, his mustache bristling.

"Aunt Petunia," Harry started. Both Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon gasped. Harry held out the envelope from Professor McGonagall. "This is for you. I think it explains what happened to me." After several frozen moments where his aunt got progressively paler while his uncle got progressively redder Petunia took the letter. While she opened it Uncle Vernon grabbed Harry's arm and tried to pull him towards a small, out of the way alcove. At first Harry did not move. This made Vernon redouble his efforts. Finally Harry allowed himself to be lead to the quiet corner. Uncle Vernon, who was now shorter than Harry, hissed in his ear. "I don't know what sort of freakishness this is, but I will not put up with it, boy! I've had enough. I was willing to house and feed you for another summer, but now…"

"Vernon," Aunt Petunia interrupted. She held the parchment out to her husband. He glared at the unusual missive, then at Harry. Finally he took the letter and stepped away to read it. Harry noticed that Aunt Petunia had one arm protectively around Dudley's shoulder as the baby whale looked up disbelievingly at the new Harry. Silence held until Uncle Vernon had finished the note.

"Fine," he barked. "Get in the car. But I don't want to hear a word from you until we get home. Then you're to go straight to your room."

"Uncle…" Harry started.

"I said not a word!" Harry was quiet until he had loaded his trunk and Hedwig's cage into the boot of his uncle's car. He let Hedwig out of the cage and told her to meet him in Surry. The Dursleys looked on angrily at this freakish behavior. "Get in!" Uncle Vernon hissed.

"I need new clothes. This outfit is the only thing I have. All of my old clothes are gone, and they didn't fit me anymore anyway," Harry spoke calmly but his chin was raised in defiance. He knew they could no longer hurt him physically, nor could they put him back in the cupboard under the stairs. He decided he needed to make this stand. "I know you're not going to be willing to buy them for me and I don't want to run around the neighborhood naked so I need to go shopping. It's better to do it now while I'm already in London, then having to come back tomorrow. These clothes will vanish after that."

"Don't talk about that freakishness, I tell you. I won't have it." Uncle Vernon looked like his head was about to explode. "How can you go shopping? I'm certainly not going to give you any money. You cost too much of my hard earned …"

"My teacher gave me some money to buy clothes." Harry noticed the greed appear in Uncle Vernon and Dudley's eyes at the mention of Harry having money. "It is freak money so it can only be spent in the Alley. That's why I have to shop here in London. If you'll leave me here now, I'll make my own way back to Privet Drive tomorrow evening. I'll have to spend the night because the store is probably already closed."

Uncle Vernon first looked at Harry, then at Aunt Petunia. After a moment she nodded and Uncle Vernon spat, "Very well, but you might have had the courtesy to tell us sooner and save us a drive. And if you know how to get home from here, you can do it yourself from now on. We won't be wasting any more time or petrol on you."

Harry stood back and watched as his relatives climbed into their car and drove away. He did not know whether to feel relieved or frightened. He thought her remembered how to get to the Leaky Cauldron, and how to get back to Little Whinging from there. He had managed it after his shopping trip with Hagrid almost a year ago. If he could get enough British money out of Gringotts he could take a taxi from Heathrow Airport. It was only a few miles from Privet Drive. He could probably even walk, if he had to. Harry went back into the station and looked for a map. He had no British money so he would have to walk to Charring Cross Road, but it turned out that was only about 2 miles. The evening was young and the weather was quite pleasant. It turned out to be quite a nice stroll, through Russell Square and past the British Museum. Harry noted several hotels along the way he might stay at if he could get the right money. It took him a little while walking up and down Charring Cross Road to find the Leaky Cauldron, but he did find it.

Harry passed through the wizarding pub without stopping and used his wand to open the portal the Diagon Alley. It was late evening and most of the shops were closed. Hoping the goblins did not keep banker's hours, Harry hurried to Gringotts. Much to his relief it was still open. There were not many people in the bank, and most of those there looked unusually pale. Several eyes tracked Harry as he made his way to a station where he saw Griphook, the goblin that had taken him to his vault ten months before. After waiting for two other customers, Harry greeted the teller. "Hi Griphook. Can I get some money from my vault and change some to pounds?"

The Goblin looked at Harry with no sign of recognition. "Name and key," he barked.

"Harry Potter and I don't have my key. I think Professor Dumbledore has it."

"You don't look like Harry Potter."

"I've been working out." Harry made a little weight lifting motion with both hands. "I remember you, Griphook. You took me to my vault with Hagrid last summer."

"That is not good enough. Follow me to the identity verification office." The pale woman with the long pointy teeth in line behind Harry groaned in disappointment as Griphook closed his station. The goblin led the boy into an office with another goblin snoozing at a desk. "Crackjaw, this wizard needs his identity verified."

The other goblin started awake and pulled out a dagger, a bowl, and a potion flask. He poured the potion into the bowl and took up the dagger. "Your right arm," he said holding out his hand. Harry pulled up his sleeve and placed his wrist in the goblin's hand. Both goblins stared at the crimson band encasing his lower arm and wrist. Crackjaw tapped it lightly with the dagger, making a musical _ting_ like a delicate cymbal. "Can you remove the band?"

"No. It doesn't come off."

The two goblins looked at each other and said something in the goblin tongue. Finally Crackjaw turned back to Harry and said, "We will have to draw blood from your hand as your arm is protected. This may hurt." The goblin stabbed at Harry's palm, in the meat under his little finger. The dagger simply slid across the unbroken skin. He tried again, sawing with the edge of the blade. The razor edge left no mark. Finally he placed Harry's hand on the desk and used both hands and all his strength to skewer the boy's hand, trying to pin it to the wood. The dagger point skittered to the left, leaving a deep gouge in the desktop. Both goblins then looked at Harry with identical, undecipherable expressions. Finally Crackjaw handed the dagger to Harry. "You try. We need at least three drops in the bowl. Stir as you state your name. If you are who you claim to be the potion will turn chartreuse."

"And if I am not?"

"The potion will flow out of the bowl and encase you in amber. Then the fun begins. We treat frauds as any other thieves. Our dragons are always hungry." Both goblins grinned at that, showing lots of pointy teeth. Harry gulped and took the dagger. He slowly poked it into his palm. It took a fair bit of pressure and a lot of muttered "come on, get in there's" but he finally drew the required three drops. The cut healed as soon as the blade was withdrawn. Harry stirred the blood into the potion, stating his name. All three watched as the potion turned a bright, neon green.

"Is that chartreuse?" Harry asked.

"As the potion is not trying to crawl out and kill you, we can assume that is indeed chartreuse, Mr. Potter." Crackjaw took a golden key from a drawer at his desk. "Which is Mr. Potter's vault?"

"Vault 687," Griphook answered. Crackjaw dipped the key into the potion then tapped it with the dagger while intoning the vault number. After three repetitions, he handed the key to Harry with the admonishment "Don't lose it this time."

It took another hour but Harry finally left the bank with a bottomless bag with around two hundred galleons of wizarding money and an expanding wallet with five thousand pounds of British money. This was a lot of money to Harry, and Griphook told him it would likely carry him through the whole year, even with the shopping he needed to do. The bag and wallet had been expensive but were charmed against loss or theft. So Harry thought they were worth it.

That night Harry found at hotel that would take cash and no identification. He used a false name and claimed to be 18 years old. "I have a baby face. I always look younger than I am." The room was nice and the bed did not sag too much under his weight. In the morning he had a big breakfast then went to Marks & Spencer to get a new wardrobe. They sent him to a big and tall men's store. He bought a duffle bag as well to carry his new clothes in. On the way to the big men's store he stopped at Diagon Alley and picked up his books for the next school year. He felt he could try and get ahead of the reading over the summer. There were no defense books listed in the bookstore, as the new teacher had probably not been chosen yet, Harry picked up the prior year's Second Year text. After a pleasant morning shopping and a nice lunch in normal London, Harry took the train to Heathrow and a taxi to Privet Drive wearing a new outfit and carrying a full bag.

He knocked at the door of #4. Uncle Vernon answered, then grabbed Harry and tried to drag him into the house. Harry stepped forward and let his Uncle close the door behind him. Knowing that Vernon had been stewing about Harry's newest freakishness since leaving King's Cross, Harry was prepared for his relatives to try and put him in his place. He had decided while enjoying his first real taste of independence that he was not going to put up with their bullying and abuse anymore. So when Uncle Vernon tried to march Harry up the stairs, Harry resisted. Aunt Petunia and Dudley were watching from the sitting room doorway.

"Come on, boy. I don't care what the freak headmaster of yours has to say. I am not putting up with any more of your abnormality. You are going into your room and staying there until I let you out. I have locked up your freak junk and when the freak bird gets here I am going to lock it up too."

"No." Harry's voice was quiet, barely above a whisper.

"What!"

"I said no. I'm not going to let you treat me that way anymore. I'm not an animal, I'm a human being and deserve to be treated with some basic dignity and … and … just no."

Vernon snapped. He had never really struck Harry before. He had pushed and shoved, poked and pinched, but never all-out punched or kicked. But Harry's blatant resistance seemed to be too much for him. The walrus swung a full out, backhand blow that landed on Harry's left cheek. There was a crack and Uncle Vernon started howling. He was dancing around, cradling his hand, and cursing. Harry stepped aside as Aunt Petunia rushed to comfort her husband. This brought him nearer his cousin, who cowered behind the wall. Harry felt a bit of satisfaction at both his uncle's pain and his cousin's fear. Then he realized that he did not want anyone to be afraid of him. He just wanted them to treat him right.

"I'm sorry that happened Uncle Vernon. I don't want to hurt anyone. Please, just leave me alone." Harry noticed the padlock on the cupboard. He easily pulled it free and found his trunk in the dark space. Her pulled it out and carried it up to his room, closing the door on the people below.

The young wizard went without dinner that night, but felt no hunger or thirst. When he opened the door to go to the washroom he heard rather than felt the three locks his uncle had put on the outside of the door rip free. He shrugged and completed his personal tasks then returned to his room. The next morning he skipped breakfast and went for a walk around the neighborhood. He chuckled when he saw Piers Polkiss cross the street to avoid him. As Harry walked through the park he found a straight twig about the size of his wand. He picked it up and tucked it into his pocket. He had an idea.

When he got back to his room he started to read his Second Year school books for Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense. He was going to study the spells, using the twig instead of his wand. He started with the Scouring Charm. He brought the twig through the motions, ending pointed at a pile of dust in the corner of the room. " _Scourgify!"_ As he finished the incantation Harry felt the band on his right arm grow warm for a moment and the dust vanished.

"Oh crap!" Harry dropped the twig. He began to panic. He knew he was not supposed to do magic out of school. He did not want to get expelled. _Hermione!_ He thought. _She'll know what to do._ He ran down the stairs, once more ripping the locks out of the door, and went to the phone in the sitting room. Ignoring the stares of his aunt and uncle, he pulled out the sheet with his friend's number on it and dialed. He breathed a huge sigh when he heard his friend's voice on the other end of the line.

"Hermione!"

"Harry, is that you? Are you okay? I'm so glad you called."

"Hermione, I think I may be in trouble."

"What happened?"

"I accidentally cast a spell with a twig."

"What …"

"I was studying for next year, using a twig I found in the park. And the spell worked. With a twig. Am I going to be expelled?"

"You were reading ahead? I am so proud of you?"

"Hermione!"

"Right, it sounds like it was accidental magic. That's frowned upon for students but still happens for younger years. If you can show it wasn't cast with your wand, you should be okay."

"Who do I have to show?"

"Someone at the Ministry, I imagine. But I'm sorry Harry, I really don't know."

At about that time an owl started batting against the window. "Oh God, there's an owl." Harry set the phone down and rushed to the window. The owl dropped an official looking notice. Harry opened it and saw it was a warning for the accidental use of magic by a minor. There was no threat of expulsion. Harry picked up the phone to find Hermione in mid-rant. "It's okay. It's just a warning for accidental magic. I think I'm going to be alright."

"Oh thank goodness. Hopefully nothing like that happens again. Please be careful." After that they just talked. Hermione told Harry that her family was going to be travelling for the next few weeks. Harry told her he had already done his clothes shopping and would be trying to study ahead while he got used to his new size and strength. After a few minutes Hermione's mother called her away.

"I write while we're away and I'll ring you up when I get back."

"Have fun. I'll talk to you later."

"What was that about?' asked Aunt Petunia. "I remember you're not supposed to do _-that-_ outside of school. Are you trying to get expelled?"

"No, it was an accident. I wasn't even using my wand."

"Well don't even pretend to do that stuff in this house. I don't want it here. Do you understand me?"

"I do." Harry walked back up to his room and retrieved the Charms book. Locking his wand in his truck took his book and the twig and walked to the nearby park. There he found a place sheltered from sight by a copse of bushes and trees.

Once hidden he rolled up his sleeves and examined the red bands. Concentrating, he could feel the magic flowing through them. He picked up the twig and cast one of the first spells he had ever learned – _Lumos_. The red band lit up, casting a red glow around it and a white beam shone forward like a flashlight. _Nox!_ Harry cast quickly, extinguishing the light.

After a moment's panic, Harry left the bushes and headed to the neighborhood library. He wanted someplace quiet to think. As he walked down the street he noticed a group of older girls looking at him strangely. He wondered if they recognized him. He did not know who they were, but he thought one was Malcolm's older sister. When he reached the library he spent the afternoon thinking about his bands and wandless magic.

The rest of the summer passed almost uneventfully. Harry found that as long as he was nowhere near his wand he could get away with practicing his 'wandless' magic without alerting the Ministry. So he practiced every day. The young wizard relearned all the First Year spells. He found that most of them were just as easy with his bands as with his wand. It was only closely targeted spells, like the Stinging Jinx and the Severing Charm, that were more difficult. If he used his twig, or any other pointing object, he could achieve similar aim as with his wand.

Harry's relatives left him alone. They did not ask him to do chores, but they did not feed him either. Harry discovered that he did not need to eat or drink. He even found, while visiting a pond in a nearby forest, that he did not need to breath and could walk across the bottom of the pond without a problem. He still enjoyed eating and would treat himself to one meal a day, usually while he wandered the neighborhood.

Other people in Little Whinging treated Harry much differently than they had before. He still did not make any friends, though not because of his false reputation. No one recognized him. They all seemed to assume he was a much older teen, new to the neighborhood. Most of the boys seemed to be a little afraid of the new guy, while the girls just made him nervous with the way their eyes followed him everywhere he went. He did start helping some of the older residents with housework or DIY jobs. He used the skills he had learned as the Dursleys' house slave, combined with his wandless magic and his new strength. He even made some money on the jobs. This helped him learn to master his new body and practice his new magic, all while helping people and building a good reputation.

About halfway through the summer Harry was noticing that, while he had a regular telephone exchange with Hermione, he had not heard from Ron. Harry had sent a few letters, but had not gotten any in return. He heard Ron's news through Hermione, and knew that she was writing to him about Harry, so did not really think much of the issue. The last evening in July the Dursleys were hosting a business dinner and had told Harry to be out of the house for the night. It was his birthday so Harry decided to head to London for a celebration.

He found the same hotel he had stayed at before. When the desk clerk winked at Harry checking in with no ID for a second time the young wizard asked if the clerk might know where someone could get a "replacement ID". Later that evening the clerk, a young man named Nigel, showed up with another young man who offered to obtain an ID for Harry at a "reasonable" rate. Having no idea how to haggle or what a good price for a fake ID might be, Harry agreed with the initial price and payed out more of his limited pounds than he wanted. After photos were taken against a blank wall in the hotel room, and a fake name and address were agreed upon, the ID maker left, taking half the agreed fee and promising to have the ID at the hotel desk the next morning.

After the visitors had left, Harry relaxed on the hotel bed, watching a comedy on the BBC. The TV flickered off when a strange little being appeared on the bed between Harry and TV. The little fellow had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. It was dressed in what looked like a dirty pillowcase. Harry had no idea what it was. The creature took a long look at Harry, exclaimed "Cyttorak!", and disappeared. Immediately following this occurrence a small bundle of letter appeared on the bed. Three from Hermione and two from Ron. Harry shrugged and turned the TV back on to finish his show.

In the morning the new ID was waiting at the counter identifying him as Henry Bond, age 18 (they shared the same birthday), with the address of the Little Whinging Library as his home. It was not a driver's license and Harry was warned that it would not stand up to any sort of background check. But it gave him something that matched his appearance.

The rest of the summer was much the same. Harry met Hermione in London three times after his birthday. The third was to join the Weasleys for school shopping in Diagon Alley. It was a fun day, despite the odd disturbance at Flourish and Blotts. Harry was particularly happy when the Weasleys invited him to spend the last few days of the summer at the Burrow.

"That would be great! I have to figure how to get my trunk and the rest of my stuff from my relative's house. I can go there this evening then figure a way to get to your place tomorrow." Harry was already thinking about the maps he had been looking at while he dreamed about a rail tour of Britain.

"That's dead easy, mate," said Twin #2. Harry still could not tell them apart. He never trusted them when they identified themselves or each other. Usually he would just assign them a number in his head each time he saw them. They very seldom dressed identically, even in school uniforms.

"Take the Knight Bus," continued Twin #1. "Just hold out your wand on any street corner and the bus will come take you wherever you want to go."

"It's wicked," Ron enthused. "Just tell the driver to take you to the Burrow, Ottery St Catchpole."

Deciding to try it, Harry called the Knight Bus to take him to Surrey. The trip was perhaps too exciting until Harry anchored himself by grabbing onto a pole, thus avoiding being flung about by the motion of the bus. It was a much faster way of getting to Little Whinging than normal transportation. Twenty minutes after he got off, he got back on having retrieved all his belongings and wishing his relatives a simple farewell. He got a nod back from his aunt. That was an improvement over the previous year.

Other than an initial incident where the Weasleys' spare cot collapsed under his weight, only to be fixed and reinforced with magic, Harry had a wonderful week. The only real disappointment was when Harry discovered that he was right at the weight limit his broom could carry. He could still fly, slowly, but it was unlikely that he could still be a seeker. The morning of the 1st rolled around and the family of redheads, plus one, made it to Platform 9 3/4 with 3 minutes to spare.


	3. Chapter 3

**Unstoppable!**

I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters from those stories. Nor do I own any of the Marvel Comics characters. This story should not be taken as a claim of ownership. It is written in the spirit of Fair Use.

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

The first two months of term were as normal as Harry might hope. Snape was as mean and Binns as boring as the previous year. Lockhart added a new flavor of stupidity and ineffectiveness to the DADA class. But he left Harry alone. Something about the young wizard seemed to make the new professor nervous. He never called on Harry and avoided him outside of class. The worst thing about the year was that Harry was off of the Quidditch team. He was too heavy to fly effectively, and he seemed to be getting heavier every day. By the end of September he was up to 410 pounds. Oliver was crushed, almost literally when he tried to convince Harry that he could still fly. The catastrophic failure of the Nimbus' flight charms caused Harry to crash just inches from where the team captain was standing. The best thing about the year so far was that his work over the summer was paying off as Harry was often one of the first to get spells in Charms and Transfiguration. There was precious little wand work in DADA so Harry spent his time outside of class practicing spells from other defense books he had bought when buying Lockhart's puff pieces. Harry was always careful to use his wand. He had not even told Hermione or Ron about his wandless abilities. Still every time he learned a new spell he would sneak off to an abandoned classroom he had found to practice the spell with his bands.

Harry also spent time trying to figure out what that weird creature that had taken the letters from his friends. Why had it taken the letters? Why had it given them back? And what had it said when it popped in and out of his hotel room? All Harry could remember is that it sounded something like "cider rack". So, when Harry was not doing anything else he started looking for references to magical apples and cider in the library.

Halloween still depressed Harry as he thought of all the bad things that had happened on that day in years past. After hours spent moping around the castle, he decided to skip the Feast and work on some new spells in his 'secret' room. He had figured out that he could not practice several combat spells without a partner of some sort. He could get the Disarming Charm or the Full Body Bind to cast both with his wand and without, but he had no idea if they would actually work on a target. Harry was trying to work himself to exhaustion, hoping that he would be able to sleep without the nightmares that always plagued him on this night. Instead he found that even after several hours of continuous casting he was not getting tired. Finally he gave up and decided to go back to his dorm. Maybe reading his history text would help him get to sleep. He could pretend that Binns was lecturing. _The words would be the same either way_.

As he neared the stairs he saw a strange sight. Mrs. Norris, the Caretaker's cat, was hanging from a sconce. She was not moving. Next to her words were scrawled on the stone wall of the corridor.

 _The Chamber of Secrets has been opened_

 _Enemies of the Heir, beware_

Harry was starting to examine the cat when Filch grabbed his shoulder and tried to slam him into the wall. "You killed my cat!"

"No," Harry said, stepping away from both the Caretaker and his hanging feline. "I just found her like this." Filch, of course, did not believe him.

Just about then the students from the Feast were leaving the Great Hall and due to the vagaries of the moving stairs and changing corridors even the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, whose Houses were in the dungeons, were coming up the stairs to the second floor. Students started panicking when they saw the unsavory tableau. Some half-wit yelled out "Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" Harry thought it was Draco.

All this time Filch was calling Harry the killer and Snape was about to join in the fun when the Headmaster and Lockhart arrived. After determining that the cat was not dead, merely petrified, Dumbledore pointed out that it was powerful dark magic that no Second Year student could perform. He still looked at Harry strangely, almost like he did not fully believe his own pronouncement. Soon the Heads managed to get their houses back to their rooms and bedded down for the night.

Like most of the student body, the three young Gryffindors were fascinated with the idea of Slytherin's secret chamber and its legendary monster. Ron convinced Harry and Hermione that Draco was probably "the Heir" and responsible for Mrs. Norris' predicament and the warning on the wall, sparking Hermione's plan to get Malfoy to incriminate himself. Things got a bit more serious after Collin Creevey turned up petrified after a Quidditch game. Harry and Ron started spending more time in the Library looking up monsters that could petrify their prey while Hermione was brewing in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

Shortly before Christmas break Harry and Ron got excited by the announcement of a Dueling Club. All three friends arrived to find the Great Hall packed, only to be disappointed when it turned out that Lockhart was running the club, with Snape as his assistant. After several hours of chaos and destruction as students were told to duel with no instruction and less supervision, Harry found himself on a dueling platform in front of the gathered students. Even the fact that he was being allowed to hex Draco did not make up for being the center of such attention. Ignoring Lockhart's useless advice Harry was caught by surprise when Draco incanted " _Serpensortia_!" and a huge snake flew from his wand and landed halfway across the platform. It started slithering towards Harry, hissing.

Harry stared in shock, _I honestly didn't think Draco had that kind of magic in him. I'm actually impressed._ Before Harry raised his wand to deal with the serpent, Lockhart cast some sort of spell that threw the snake into the air. It landed between Harry and Justin Finch-Fletchley, facing the terrified Hufflepuff. Just as it was about to strike Harry grabbed the snake and lifted it away from the side of the platform. It coiled around Harry's arm and bit at the wizard's neck.

The crowd gasped and Snape called out "No!" while running across the platform. Harry looked at the Potions Professor, surprised at his tone of voice. He saw Snape raised his wand and cast " _Vipera Evanesca_ ". Harry turned his back, putting himself between the spell and the snake wriggling in his arms. The orange jet splashed harmlessly against his shoulder. "What are you doing, Potter? Let me dispose of that creature before it hurts someone."

"No need to kill it. It's not hurting anyone. I'll just take it out to the forest." Harry hopped down from the dueling platform as the audience pushed far back to give him and the serpent plenty of room. He kept his grip on the snake and his eyes on the professors until he was out of the Hall. A few minutes later Harry set the snake on to the grounds at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He watched carefully making sure the snake moved into the forest rather than back towards the castle. When he got back to his dorm he checked his neck in the mirror. Unsurprisingly, it was unmarked where the serpent had struck him. Harry assumed that would be the end of the issue. The next morning he found it was not.

Back in the Library Harry overheard Ernie encouraging Justin to avoid Harry. "Did you see the way he cuddled that monster. It should have torn him apart, but Harry had some sort of control over it. I'm telling you. With that sort of serpent mastery, he must be the Heir of Slytherin. And you're a muggle-born. He had to stop his monster from killing you because of all the witnesses. But now he's going to be after you."

"Are you mental?" Harry burst from the stack to confront the pair. "I didn't conjure the snake. Draco did. All I did was stop it from biting Justin. And have you forgotten that my best friend and my MOTHER are muggle-born! Jesus!" Harry threw up his hands and stomped out of the Library, causing the tables and shelves to tremble in his wake.

Harry's protest did not seem to help. Within a week everyone assumed he was the Heir and was treating him like a dangerous monster. The fact the Justin, along with Nearly Headless Nick, was petrified a few days later did not help. Fred and George took to preceding him in the halls calling out "Make way for the Dark Lordling. Seriously scary snake master coming through!"

Like the previous year, Harry and Ron were staying over Christmas. Only this year Hermione was staying too because the Polyjuice Potion was almost finished and Draco and his cronies had all stayed over. Hermione thought the holiday was the perfect time to use the potion. Unfortunately when they tried to use the potion to impersonate Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle there were two issues. Hermione go hold of cat hair instead of the pug-faced girl's. And the potion had no effect on Harry, other than giving him a nasty headache and the itchy feeling of ant crawling all over his skin. The itching lasted the full hour but the headache lasted until the next morning. Hermione's feline transformation lasted until the end of the holiday. Ron decided not to try to confront Malfoy on his own. In the end they spent the rest of the break sitting in the Hospital Wing, trying to find a different way to prove Draco's guilt. They were still trying to find a way when the new term started.

Winter was horrible. Harry had found, and later lost, a strange diary in Myrtle's toilet. Hermione was in the Hospital Wing until early February. Lockhart had made a mockery of Valentine's Day. Hermione and Percy's girlfriend were both petrified. And Hagrid was arrested so that the Minister of Magic could be seen "doing something." It was these last two events that led to real trouble.

"Follow the spiders, he said," Ron yelled as the giant acromantulas started to rush them. "Bloody Hagrid!" Ron fumbled his wand from his pocket and tried casting a Stinging Jinx. It bounced off a hairy carapace. Harry picked a large branch off the forest floor and batted three of the horse sized creatures away. They flew back and knocked several of their nest mates aside.

"Run," Harry turned to Ron, giving him a push towards the castle. "I'll hold them here. You run!"

"No! I'm not going to leave you." Harry was amazed at Ron's courage. He knew that these monsters were his greatest nightmare and yet he stood fast. Before Harry could respond a giant spider bit down on his shoulder.

Ignoring the arachnid chewing on him, Harry raised his hand and cast " _Wingardium Leviosa_ " on Ron, levitating him out of the hollow. Three smaller acromantula clamped on to Harry's legs and back. Harry could feel there weight, but it did not slow him. Once Ron was out of sight over the lip of the hollow Harry started plucking the creatures off of him and throwing them towards the rushing mass. He grasped the largest and used it to knock the oncoming spiders aside. He moved towards Aragog, punching and kicking any acromantula in his reach. As he got more excited, he started hitting harder. Instead of knocking the giant spiders away he was crushing shells and snapping limbs. By the time he got to the blind elder he was covered in gore.

"Stop them, Aragog," Harry growled. "You can't hurt me and I _will_ crush them all if I have to. I don't want to hurt anyone but I can't let you eat Ron. So stop this or…" Harry backhanded another acromantula the size of an ox. It flew up, crashing through the canopy covering the hollow, and disappeared.

Aragog chittered loudly and the swarm started to pull back. Harry looked to see that none were headed in the direction he had moved Ron. "Go, Friend of Hagrid."

"If I hear of you or your children hunting humans or centaurs I'll be back. Just leave us alone and we'll leave you alone." Harry backed out of the hollow and found Ron crouched at the edge of the trees, wand clutched in his hand. His eyes were wide and blank and fixed on the carnage below. Harry gently lifted him and carried him back to the castle. Ron was unconscious before they left the forest.

The only thing useful Ron and Harry could find that they had gotten out of the encounter with Aragog was that Slytherin's monster was a natural predator of spiders, even giant ones. That, plus the petrification power, shaped their research. The still could not find anything.

Shortly before end of term exams Harry was sitting with Hermione in the hospital wing. When Harry reached out to hold Hermione's hand he found a sheet of paper clutched in her fist. He gently, very gently, pried it from her gasp. It was a page torn from a book describing basilisks. The word "Pipes" was handwritten in the margin.

"Maybe it's Myrtle's toilet. If she was the girl that died the first time maybe the basilisk is using the pipes in her washroom," Harry muttered.

On the way to talk with Myrtle, the boys overheard that Ginny has been taken to the Chamber and that the school was likely to be closed down. They managed to convince Lockhart to accompany them, after they disarmed him. Talking with Myrtle, Harry found a stone snake outlined on a sink that never worked.

"This has to be it," Harry said.

"But how does it open?" Ron asked. "Maybe a spell?"

"I never heard any words, just some quiet hissing," Myrtle volunteered floating close to Harry.

"It is well know that Salazar Slytherin was a parselmouth, that is he could speak to snakes," Lockhart lectured. "Obviously that lock required a verbal key in parseltongue. It's terribly sad that we don't have a parselmouth to help us. Tragic really, but what are we to do? Now if you would just release me we can get out of here … I mean we can …"

"Shut up," Harry said, growing more frustrated and more frantic. Ron's sister was down there and he didn't want Ron to know the pain of losing family.

"Shut up!" Harry slammed his fist into the sink. Porcelain cracked.

"SHUT UP!" Both fists slammed in to the sink and the flooring under it collapsed. The sink slid in to a hidden chute and out of sight. All four listened as the fixture rattled away. After almost a minute the sound stopped with a distant crash.

"Way to go Harry!" Ron moved towards the opening.

"Let me go first," Harry insisted, sure nothing down there could hurt him. "Wait ten seconds, then send him. You follow last." Without waiting for Ron to argue Harry leapt into the chute feet first.

It was a wild ride, filthy but fun. At the bottom Harry slid into a pile of old leaves and bones, along with the remnants of the sink. It was dark so Harry lit his bands, leaving his hands free. He drew his wand, just in case, and called up to Ron, "It's okay! Send him down." His voice echoed in the chute and the dark corridor. _Oppps, so much for surprise_ , Harry thought. From above he heard a shout and a sharp bang. Then nothing. Neither Ron nor Lockhart came down the chute. After waiting almost five minutes Harry decided to go forward alone.

After a short walk through a long corridor, passing the occasional shed skin, the young wizard came to a large round door. It looked like the vault from his Aunt's bank he had seen once. It was surrounded by carved snakes. Harry hoped the same key that worked on the sink would work here. He rushed the door with his shoulder. He crashed right through, stone flying in all directions. The Chamber, for that is what he thought it had to be, was a long and dimly lit. Towering stone pillars entwined with more serpents, rose to a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.

At the far end he saw a tall statue of a man, presumably Salazar Slytherin if he was that sort of egomaniac. As Harry approached he saw a small body collapsed at the foot of the statue. The red hair immediacy told Harry that it was Ginny. He rushed to her, hoping against hope that she was still alive. When he got to her she was still, but breathing shallowly. Harry gently tried to wake her.

"It won't work," came a voice from the shadows. Harry watched as a young man in an old Hogwarts uniform, Slytherin by the colors, stepped in to the light from Harry's bands. "She won't wake. Not ever again. She will slowly fade as she serves her final purpose." Harry recognized the figure from his time in the diary world - Tom Riddle. He watched as Riddle waved his hand and the torches in the Chamber all flared to life, burning with a pale green flame.

Harry tried to convince the spirit, for he could see that the figure was translucent in the torch light, that they were in danger and needed to get back to the main part of the castle. Tom crowed about how he was the danger, the greatest dark lord of all time. Harry watched as fire letters rearranged themselves into " _I am Lord Voldemort_ ". It was not until Fawkes dropped the Sorting Hat at Harry's feet that the young Gryffindor realized how much time had passed.

He could see Ginny fading and the shade becoming more solid. "Let's match the power of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Harry Potter." Tom began to hiss, facing the giant statue. Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Horror-struck, Harry saw his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole... And something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. Something was slithering up from its depths.

A snake, wider around that Harry was tall and longer than a train car, came shooting out of the statue's mouth. It moved like lightening, and the ground trembled under its weight. It reared its head a dozen feet of the ground and bowed, _it actually bowed_ , to Tom. The shade pointed to Harry and hissed. Harry barely had time to shout "Crap!" before the basilisk turned its gaze directly on him. Yellow and red light flashed in his eyes and he was out.

An unknowable time later Harry was jerked back to consciousness by the cry of a phoenix right in his face. The red and gold bird streaked away just as a wall of green and grey scales crashed down on top of the prone youth. The basilisk weighed more than anything Harry had experienced. He could feel the stones cracking beneath him. Trying to gain some leverage Harry braced his shoulders against the floor and pressed up with both hands. The weight shifted, then the basilisk moved off on its own.

Harry rolled halfway to his feet, before the giant serpent wheeled its head to bite. Harry managed to dodge most of the attack but was knocked several yards by a glancing blow. The deadly monster seemed to be flailing almost randomly, striking at the floor, the columns, even the ceiling. This gave Harry time to get to his feet and notice that basilisk's eyes had been damaged somehow. It couldn't see.

Harry aimed his right hand at the creature and cast his most powerful curse – " _Reducto!_ " The spell crashed into the side of the snake with no noticeable effect. Tom was still hissing at the basilisk. Whatever he was saying seemed to help as the creature stopped flailing randomly and started to test the air with its tongue. It turned towards Harry, its forked tongue flickering.

Harry ran up and slammed his shoulder as hard as he could into its neck, just behind its head. The basilisk's body compressed then it seemed to spring back away from Harry It slid across the floor, slamming its huge head into the opposite wall. The creature let out a strange hissing, squealing sound like nothing Harry had ever even imagined. Then it moved to attack Harry again. Harry dodged behind a column, then kick the beast as it went by. His foot broke through the outer skin and Harry was pulled along, stuck in the creature's his fingers in to the stone floor, Harry managed to pull free. The Basilisk returned and Harry lunged to his feet, laying an explosive uppercut to the serpents jaw. Its head flew back, smashing against one of the massive columns and rebounding to hit the floor.

As the creature writhed one of its coils knocked Harry into another column. He too rebounded and landed on top of the serpent. Harry clung to the back of the beast as it tried to shake him off. At one point he was hanging on by one hand. He brought his other hand forward and got a firm grip on the basilisk's scales. He pulled himself forward, one hand at a time as the serpent bashed him against walls and columns trying to scrape him off. Nothing the creature did seemed to stop his forward motion.

Finally Harry reached the head of the beast. He punched it right between its ruined eyes. This seemed to stun it for a moment, allowing Harry to get both hands on its upper jaw. Harry jammed his hands between its upper fangs and planted his feet at the base of its skull. He stood, using all his strength to bend the basilisk's head back. With an explosive cry, Harry straightened his legs and body. The sound of the creature's neck snapping echoed like a gunshot throughout the chamber.

"Noooo!" Riddle cried. The shade was solid enough to summon Ginny's wand. He started to shower hexes and curses onto Harry. The Gryffindor ignored them, walking towards Tom. When he saw his spells were having no effect Tom pointed the wand at Ginny's still form. "Come any closer and we will see if she is as spellproof as you are."

Harry stopped, holding his hands empty before him. "Wait. I've stopped. No need to … _Expelliarmus!_ " Harry cast wandlessly. Ginny's wand flew into Harry's hand. Harry cast a Reductor Curse which passed through the rapidly solidifying shade.

Tom grunted as if punched but showed no other sign of harm. "It doesn't matter. Your spells can't really hurt me until I am fully solid, but then it will be too late for the fair maiden. The only way to stop me is to kill her, which you'll never do. Either way she dies!" Tom laughed.

Looking around for some way to stop Riddle, Harry spotted the diary lying in Ginny's pale hand. He knew it was enchanted. Riddle said he locked his memory in that book. Maybe destroying it would kill Riddle. He ran and grabbed it. Tom called out " _Accio Potter's wand_ " causing Harry's holly wand to fly from his pocket to the shade's waiting hand. Then Tom cast a quick Disarming Charm, hitting Harry and causing the diary to shift in his hand. Harry clutched at it tighter and the spell failed.

"It doesn't matter. You can't hurt that. Nothing can destroy a horcrux. I still win."

Harry looked at the book in his hand. He tried several spells _"Diffindo, Incendio, Reducto"_ Nothing seemed to do any damage. The book was untouched. Finally, Harry just grabbed both covers and tried to rip it in two. It resisted even his incredible strength. But Harry did not give up.

"Help Me!" he cried out, to whom he did not know. Suddenly he felt the gem in his chest burning. Molten metal seemed to pour through his body. His hands glowed crimson and the book ripped in two. Harry both felt and heard a scream pierce the silence of the Chamber as the shade of Tom Riddle was sucked into the destroyed diary. The book fragments then seemed to hemorrhage black inky blood all over Harry's hands. The black blood flowed up to the bands which seemed to drink it all in. The crimson crystal flashed and the dark fluid was gone.

Harry rushed to kneel by Ginny. He dropped the book halves and wiped his hands on his tattered robe. "Thank the Lord," he muttered as he found her breathing regularly. Fawkes trilled, drawing Harry's attention. The phoenix was standing next to the Sorting Hat where it lay on the floor. Harry noticed a jeweled sword hilt sticking out of the enchanted headwear. Fawkes was looking back and forth between Harry and the hilt.

"Oh … Was I supposed to use the sword?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Unstoppable!**

 **Chapter Four**

Getting out of the Chamber proved to be a bit of a bother. Harry had to tie the still unconscious Ginny over his shoulder with her robe so he could use both hands and feet to gouge handholds into the wall of the chute to climb back up to Myrtle's washroom. The Sorting Hat was tucked in his pocket and the sword in his belt. When he reached the top he found both Ron and Lockhart lying on the floor. After setting Ginny down he checked on them. They were both alive but in some sort of stupor. He was not able to rouse them, so he slung Ron over one shoulder, Lockhart over the other, and cradled Ginny in his arms as he made his way to the Hospital Wing.

"Hello!" Harry called out once he was inside the ward. Madam Pomfrey bustled out of her office and quickly drew her wand. She levitated all three of Harry's passengers onto separate beds, performed quick diagnostics on them, and then turned back to Harry.

"You look like a fright." He was covered in blood and gore from the slain basilisk and liberally coated with grime and slime from his trips down and up the chute. "Are you injured?"

Harry just shook his head. "How are they?"

Before she could answer the ward door slammed open and Mrs. Weasley rushed in, followed by her husband, Professors McGonagall and Snape, and the Headmaster. Last Harry could remember Professor Dumbledore had been removed from office and banished from the school. Mrs. Weasley grabbed onto her husband and started wailing, "Oh my babies..."

"As I was about to say, Miss Weasley seems to be fine. She is magically and physically exhausted, but a PepperUp potion and some rest will set her to rights." Mrs. Weasley went to grab Ginny in a powerful hug, murmuring softly into her hair.

"Mr. Weasley and Gilderoy both seemed to be suffering from botched obliviations. They are currently confunded and we won't know the long term prognosis until that wears off," the Matron continued.

"And Mr. Potter?" The Headmaster asked.

"I'm fine. I just need to clean up." Harry looked at the people in the room then decided there was no reason to keep what happened a secret. "Sir, Ron and I found the Chamber. Ginny was down there with this," He pulled the torn diary from his robe pocket. "It was something called a horcrux..."

"Stop!" the Headmaster commanded. "This is not the place to speak of such things. Please come into my office. Minerva, please stay here with the Weasleys. Severus, please come with us."

Harry started to follow the Headmaster when he had a sudden thought. "Professor Dumbledore, don't you think the Weasleys should hear what happened to Ginny? They're her parents. I think they need to know."

"Harry, my boy ..."

The boy in question cringed at the term. His uncle often called him _boy_ when he was not calling him _freak_. It had never bothered him when the Headmaster had used the term before. But he had never had that note of suppressed anger and frustration in his voice before. Harry had grown up very sensitive to that tone, as it usually presaged a long period of hunger, locked in his cupboard.

"No, sir. They have the _right_ to know. It's their family. And that's more important than anything!"

"Potter!" Snape snapped. "How dare you ..."

"Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," Harry continued, ignoring his most hated teacher. "Ginny was somehow influenced or possessed by the shade of Tom Riddle, also known as Voldemort," Harry had to pause while Mrs. Weasley and Madam Pomfrey wailed and Mr. Weasley and the Professors cringed. Even the Headmaster reacted to the name, though differently than the others. "Turns out that Voldemort is a made up name. He's really half-blood who was head boy here back in the 40's. Anyway, he somehow put his memory or spirit in the diary. He called it a horcrux and it could communicate with anyone that wrote in it. He controlled Ginny to release Slytherin's basilisk. It used the pipes to travel around the school and ..."

"A basilisk!" Professor McGonagall interrupted. "We have to ..."

"It's alright, ma'am," Harry interrupted in return, something he would not have done if he were not so mentally and emotionally exhausted. "I took care of it. It's dead."

"You expect us to believe you killed a basilisk?" Snape sneered.

"You can see the body, if you want to go down there," Harry snapped back. "The doors are gone so the way is open. Anyway, the main thing is that it wasn't Ginny's fault. But she may need help. Who knows what damage Riddle may have done messing with her head. Are there wizard psychiatrists and neurologists?" Harry had looked at some books on medical fields thinking he might want to be a doctor when he grew up and see if there was a medical or genetic difference between magical and normal people. He thought neurologist or neurosurgeon might be really cool jobs. _Probably better than giant snake exterminator_ , the thought as his mind began to wander. He missed the next few exchanges in the conversation. Ignoring everyone else he finally said, "I think maybe I do need to lie down."

Madam Pomfrey bullied the Headmaster into leaving Harry alone while she used a spell to switch his ruined clothes with an oversized hospital gown. The Headmaster moved the sword, the Hat, and the ruined diary to a nearby table. Mr. Weasley and the professors gathered around the table. Harry could hear snatches of their conversation. He was too tired to pay much attention. He noticed Mr. Malfoy, followed by the little creature that had popped into and out of his hotel room the previous summer, storm into the room yelling about something just before he closed his eyes and slept.

Hermione was beside his bed when Harry woke. She was sitting quietly, holding his hand, and reading from her Transfiguration text. Harry watched her. He was happy she was unpetrified and realized how having her small, warm hand in his made him feel protective. He realized he felt about her how he imagined an older brother felt about a little sister. She was older than him, but so much smaller. That was when Harry realized he had grown again, that or Hermione, the bed, and the rest of the ward had shrunk. He must have moved, as Hermione looked at him and saw he was awake.

"Oh Harry, you did it."

"Did what?"

"Figured out my clue, found the Chamber, and saved the day."

"Maybe, but Ron and Ginny still got hurt. How are they? How are you?"

"I'm fine. A little upset that the Headmaster cancelled end of year exams for everyone. I'm sure I could have revised enough to do okay on them, maybe not as well as I would have liked but..." Hermione stopped before she could get worked into full rant mode when she saw Harry smiling at her. "What?"

"Only you would complain about no exams."

"Well, exams are an important part of our education and ..."

"Ron and Ginny?" Harry interrupted, his voice serious.

"Ginny woke up two days ago. She appears to be fine, but her parents took her home early just in case. Ron and Professor Lockhart are still in some sort of magical coma. I heard that the professors found Ron's wand in Myrtle's bathroom and the last spell cast was a powerful Memory Charm. Given the condition of the wand and the fact that it's been backfiring since Ron accidentally cracked it on Halloween, it's possible both have been affected by it somehow. They've both been taken to St. Mungo's for observation."

"How long have I been out?"

"Three days."

"That seems to be standard for my end of year adventures. Am I wrong or have I gotten bigger while I was out?"

Hermione hesitated. "Madam Pomfrey said you grew another few inches and put on several stone."

Harry got out of bed and cast an " _Engorgio!"_ on his gown, not wanting to accidentally flash his friend. He looked in the mirror on the wall, the same one he had examined himself in this time last year. He cast the Height/Weight Charm that Madam Pomfrey had taught him. It worked on him because it did not actually affect him, just measured his impact on the world around him. It spelled out in glowing script - 6'3" and 703 lbs. "Damn," Harry muttered. "So much for flying. I wonder if they make cargo brooms ..."

"There are carpets that can carry a whole family. Parvati mentioned that her family once had something like that. But they're illegal in Britain. I wonder if you could cast Feather-light Charms or use runes on your clothes to make yourself lighter. Your weight is going to be problematic, especially in the normal world."

"Are you calling me fat?" Harry said archly.

"No! Of course not," Hermione answered worried, then relaxed when she saw Harry smile. "But it's something we should ask about."

"I will." Harry went back to the bed. He noticed it was specially reinforced to support his weight. He lay quietly, looking out the window and thinking about what he was going to do next. He would need new clothes. For that he would need more money, which meant another trip to Gringotts. He began to wonder how much money he had in his vault, as buying completely new wardrobes each year was going to get expensive, especially if he had to have the clothes enchanted light-weight (if that was even possible).

Thinking ahead he once again realized he did not want to go back to the Dursleys, even if it was on the terms they had struck last summer. He decided not to mention it to the Headmaster. He would likely just say no again and might checkup that he was actually staying in Surry. He would have to think of an alternative on his own. He wondered whether his fake ID was good enough to get him an apartment and job. His strength should be able to get him some kind of job. In the meanwhile he would stay at a hotel, probably the Lexington House again. He might even be able to get a line on a better ID from Gleason the clerk. Thinking of the hotel reminded Harry of his little visitor. He still did not know what it was, but remembered seeing it with Mr. Malfoy.

"Hermione, I saw something and was wondering if you might know what it was."

"Hmm?" she continued reading. Harry told her about his visitor and seeing him with Mr. Malfoy. "It sounds like it might be a house elf. I read about them."

"Do they have anything to do with making apple cider? Or any type of cider?"

"Not that I know of. Why?"

"When the little guy appeared in my hotel room he yelled out "cider rack" and then disappeared. I have been trying to figure out what it means. And so far I've found nothing, well a few interesting spells for agriculture that might help the Weasleys' orchard, but nothing that seems to apply to me."

"Cider rack? I'll see if I can find anything. I just wish I had more time before the end of the year."

"I didn't think it was important and wanted to try to find it myself, but if it involves the Malfoys then ..."

"Time to bring in the expert?" Hermione sounded almost embarrassed to be bragging. Harry smiled and nodded.

"Exactly."

The Express ride home was typical, except Ron was not with them. Harry and Hermione started in a compartment by themselves. Just before the train departed Neville and Justin joined them. "Harry, is it true that you killed Slytherin's monster?"

"Ummm...yeah?" Harry did not know why he was so reluctant to talk about this sort of thing. This was something he had done and could remember, unlike what had happened when he was a baby and became the Boy-Who-Lived. "Hermione did the brain work, and Ron fought off the evil DADA teacher. I was just the muscle."

The other three teens smiled at Harry's downplaying his achievement. "Whatever," Justin continued. "I just wanted to say thanks, and apologize for having doubted you. People sometime think stupid stuff. I guess that was me. Anyway ... sorry." Harry nodded, too embarrassed to speak. Justin left the compartment, but Neville stayed to ask about Ron and Ginny. The three Gryffindors spent the rest of the trip chatting amiably.

When the Express finally arrived in London, Neville and Hermione joined their families leaving Harry on his own. He carried his trunk, with Hedwig's cage perched precariously on tip towards one of the doors to the street. Once outside he released his owl. "Please deliver this to Hermione." He had written a note the night before with this task in mind.

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _I wanted you to know that I have decided not to stay with the Dursleys this summer. They are cruel to me and have always been so. I have talked with the Headmaster about this, telling him how they mistreat me and asking if I can stay somewhere else. He insists that I have to stay with them. I finally realized that it is not his decision to make. It is not a school matter. My aunt and uncle don't care if I never come back, so I am not going to._

 _I know this will worry you. But you know that the way I am now I can take care of myself. You know that almost nothing can hurt me, that I don't need food or shelter, and that I can pass for a grownup. I have money to pay for a place to stay. I might even find a job for the summer to help make more. I promise I will study and that I will keep in touch with you so you know that I am okay._

 _Please keep Hedwig for a week, then send her with a message for me. She will be able to find me and by then I will have settled into a place for the summer. I'll send her back with a note to tell you how I am doing._

 _I don't know if Professor Dumbledore will even know if I don't go back to Surrey. He never checked on me before. But if he does come feel free to tell him whatever you want. I have nothing to hide. You can even show him this note._

 _I will be okay and I will be in touch._

 _Thank you and take care,_

 _Harry_

After releasing Hedwig with the note, Harry went to the left luggage counter. He opened his trunk and removed his duffle. He had packed it the night before with his cloak, books, and a few clothes he had enlarged to fit. He made sure to leave his wand in the trunk. He did not need it and had read up on the Trace in the Library. As long as he was not around the wand it would not detect his wandless magic. He packed Hedwig's cage in the space left after he removed his duffel. After locking the trunk, he checked it for the summer. Shouldering his oversized bag he made his way to the Tube, He had to stop by Gringotts and he figured his weight would be less noticeable on the underground train than in a taxi or bus.

That night he took twenty thousand pounds and two hundred galleons. He also asked Griphook if there was any sort of magic item that would make Harry lighter on a semi-permanent basis. The goblin contacted an associate that produced a silver torc, covered in runes. "This should reduce your weight by 90% as long as you wear it. It is a safety device used by some of our curse breakers."

Harry tried it on and nothing happened. It had no effect on him. Griphook tried it and was able to bounce around the room like a kangaroo. "So much for that idea," Harry said sadly. "If you think of anything else, please let me know." Both goblins nodded while staring at the wizard. He was getting used to strange stares.

Harry went back to the Lexington House and was able to let Gleason know he needed a better ID, one that would withstand some scrutiny. He wanted to use it to open a bank account. "That is going to be more expensive. You got the cash?"

"How much?" The clerk gave him a number more than twice what the previous ID had cost. Harry agreed readily. Gleason agreed to set up a meeting in two days. Harry checked in. When he got to the room he decided not to risk the bed holding his weight. Instead he leaned the bed against the wall, putting the bedding on the floor. He found the pallet comfortable enough that he had no trouble getting to sleep. In the morning he decided to skip breakfast and try to plan out his next steps.

Using the hotel pad and pen he jotted a list -

 _Avoid going back to Dursley's_

 _\- avoid Dumbledore_

 _Get new clothes that fit_

 _Open normal bank account (need ID and address?)_

 _\- get new ID_

 _\- get flat or bedsit_

 _Get job - use powers/magic?_

 _Get newspaper_

 _\- landscaping - experience with planting, weeding, digging, etc_

 _\- construction - can swing a hammer, shovel, carry things_

 _\- restaurant - can cook, clean, wash dishes_

 _\- crazy ideas - bodyguard, stuntman, fireman, circus strongman, ?_

 _Need new ID_

 _Get books to study ahead and better defense books (What will try to kill me next year?)_

 _Find place to practice magic_

 _Check on Ron - Where is St. Mungos?_

 _\- find out more about Wizarding World_

 _\- get more books on history and culture_

After looking at the list he realized some things would have to wait on the new ID, but he could do most of his shopping before that. He decided to go to Diagon Alley before going anywhere else. He hoped all the teachers at Hogwarts would still be resting up after the end of the term, rather than shopping in the Alley. He wanted to avoid them. He thought about trying to disguise himself, but while he could wear a hat or scarf, he could not disguise his size. Then he hit himself in the head. _Unless I wear my invisibility cloak!_

He emptied his duffel and put the _Do Not Disturb_ sign on the door. Carrying his cloak in his pocket and his duffel on his shoulder he headed out. Donning the cloak in a small alley off of Charing Cross Road, Harry waited outside the Leaky Cauldron until someone was entering. He followed them into the old pub, then followed the next person to go into the Alley. Trying his best to avoid bumping into people, Harry made his way to Flourish & Blotts.

Making sure none of his professors were around, nor anyone he thought likely to report his presence to them, Harry found a dark corner and took off his cloak. Almost an hour of browsing gained him a pile of books including his texts for next year, as well as additional tomes on defense, wizarding history, and culture. He also looked for information on house elves, horcruxes, and "cider racks". He did not ask for help as he did not want to draw any attention to himself or his research interests. Unfortunately, this meant he found nothing on the last two topics. He left many galleons poorer, but with sufficient reading to keep him busy for quite a while.

He made a quick stop by Madam Malkin's, only to find she had no enchantments that would lighten the wearer of her clothes. Disappointed, he decided not to buy any wizarding wear until the end of the summer. _Who knows if I'll hit another growth spurt?_ Harry put on his cloak and quietly left the Alley. He did not think anyone from Hogwarts saw him. His next stop was the big men's store. He spent another hour buying clothes that fit.

That afternoon, after dropping his full duffel back at his hotel, Harry decided to just stroll around London playing tourist. Despite having lived so much of his life in the greater metropolitan area, he had not seen much of the capitol. He enjoyed seeing the parks and monuments. He wandered past the Parliament building, with Big Ben chiming above it. He quietly perused the grandeur of Westminster Abbey, bowing his head over the tombs of the famous and the historic. He was walking along the north bank of the Thames, headed towards the Tower when he heard a scream and a crash from a construction site across the street.

Harry rushed towards the building. Something had caused the front wall to collapse inward some time before. Plastic covered scaffolding proclaiming "Damage Control, Inc.", hid much of the facade of the structure. The young wizard could see the metal piping was shuddering and swaying, causing those workers near the bottom to scramble for safety while those higher up tried to cling for their lives. Harry knew this was too public a place to try anything with magic, but he felt he had to try and help the workers. He looked and saw where a van had bumped the corner of the scaffolding causing the whole structure to become unstable. He needed something to prop that corner up long enough for the workers to clear off the scaffolding. The first thing he saw that might do was a decorative light post with several arms spread out from the central pole. It was probably 15 to 20 feet tall and the arms stuck out at least 4 feet. Harry reached over and tugged the pole from the concrete. The base snapped in his hand. He jogged to the corner of the scaffolding and jammed the pole into the structure just above where the van had knocked the supports loose. He kicked the base of the lamp pole in the pavement, digging it in so it would not slide. The arms of the lamp pole spread the support a few of the scaffolding poles. The overall structure shuddered with the impact, knocking one worker loose from his precarious grip on the upper tier. Harry ran to catch the falling man. The wizard managed to snatch the worker from the air and cushioned his fall before he impacted the pavement. The scaffolding was still swaying. Harry grabbed a juncture of four pieces and used his strength to hold the structure steady, at least long enough for the rest of the workers to climb off. Seeing the workers were all on the street Harry released the pipes, only for the structure to collapse on him.

Rather than let himself be buried in plastic, steel, and wood, Harry stepped forward through the brick wall of the building. The interior was an almost hollow shell. Several holes in the wall and ceiling allowed light to pour in. Clouds of dust hid construction equipment all over the area. Stone was still bouncing from what appeared to be a collapsed wall. Harry could hear cries from beneath several piles of debris. He started shifting the fallen concrete, digging towards the nearest voice. He found a group of three people. Two were injured while one seemed to be holding up a section of the collapsed wall with glowing hands, creating a bubble, keeping it from crushing the trio. Harry shifted the last piece of debris and the woman with the glowing hands collapsed. Harry called out "We've got injured in here. Call an ambulance." Making sure the area was not in imminent danger of more collapse Harry continued to look for other injured. Sometime later rescue workers started pouring into the ruined building. Harry stood back and let them work.

Ninety minutes later Harry was seated on the sidewalk his back to the concrete railing overlooking the river. Across the street, rescue and construction people seemed to have finally secured the site and announced that all the workers were accounted for. Four had been taken away in ambulances. Harry had been checked quickly and when found to have no injuries had been given a damp rag to wipe the caked dust from his hands and face. A police constable had told him to stick around.

"Hey there." A woman's voice caused Harry to lookup form his feet. She was middle-aged and dressed in a skirt and jacket. "Are you the guy that held up the scaffolding?" If it had not been for her American accent, Harry would have assumed she was from the police. He had been expecting to be questioned and had not decided what he was going to say. He had not used magic, but he did not know if his fake ID would hold up even to simple investigation. He was reluctant to disobey the police, but had almost made up his mind to sneak away. This woman was obviously not with the police and Harry had no idea whether or not to answer her.

"Ummm..." he said.

"Hey it's ok." Her voice sounded like she was talking to a skittish horse. Like she did not want him to run. "You did great. You saved several of my people's lives. I just wanted to thank you." She looked around for a moment then said to him, "Let's get out of here. I'd like to buy you a drink." When Harry stood, she gestured him towards a car.

"Okay," Harry said. "But the police wanted to talk to me."

"If you would like I can talk to you and have my lawyers tell them anything they need to know."

"Fine." Harry followed her. The large, black Range Rover tipped alarmingly when Harry got into the back seat but righted itself once he scooted to the center of the bench. "You may need to ride up front." Harry suggested. The woman looked back and forth between him and the rear wheels, then nodded and climbed into the front passenger seat. The driver pulled the vehicle slowly into traffic and they drove in silence for about five minute.

They stopped in front of a pub and the woman said, "I have a private room here where we can talk. Are you hungry? They make a decent chicken and mushroom pie here. They claim to have a decent lasagna too, but what you Brits do to pasta shouldn't be allowed."

Harry smiled. "I could eat."

"I never saw a teenager that couldn't." She led him through the public bar to a small private room. "What are you? Eighteen, nineteen?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "I'm nineteen next month." They seated themselves at the single table in the room. It was a large round table with seats for eight. The woman sat two chairs away from Harry so they could face each other more easily, but still close enough that they could talk quietly. The walls of the room were not soundproof but they could hear each other over the sounds from the main bar without straining.

"Thanks for joining me. My name is Robin Chapel. I'm heading up Damage Control's trial move into the British market." She held out her hand.

"My name is Bond. Henry Bond." Harry smiled, gently shaking her hand. He had been wanting to do this since he chose the alias. "My parents were fans. Which make sense as my Dad's name actually was James. Not the one from the movies of course. Anyway, please call me Harry."

"Nice to meet you, Harry. Can I interest you in a job?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Unstoppable!**

 **Chapter Five**

"Hey Kid, you ready to call it a day?" Harry looked over at Hank Forrester, the construction foreman, and the reason Harry was usually called 'Kid' _._ People wanted to avoid the confusion of two Henrys. _Okay, one of the reasons_ , Harry thought. _Because I_ am _a kid, my face still looks my real age_.

"Just give me two minutes to set these down," Harry answered. He was carrying an 800lb load of plasterboard panels up the stairs to the third floor. The freight elevator was still out and it was easier for him to carry the heavy loads than for the crew to rig a lift on the exterior of the building. He was just glad the stairs were both sturdy and wide.

"Ok," Hank said. Harry was always surprised how even such a simple word could sound different when spoken by Yanks. Only the management and foremen were from the States. The rest of the crew were locals. There was a lot of language conflicts and misunderstanding.

"Two nations separated by a common language," Ms. Chapel had joked once.

"Overpaid, over-sexed, and over here," Bill Hogarth, the oldest guy on the crew had replied. Harry still was not sure what he meant.

Harry had enjoyed his three weeks on the crew. He had moved to a bedsit in the basement of a doctor's house just across the Thames. He was making good money on the job so could afford a higher weekly rent. The basic job Damage Control was here to do was demolishing the interior of the five story building, while leaving the historical façade intact. Then they would build from the inside out. The reason Damage Control had gotten the job was that the building had been damaged in a fight between Captain Britain and some reality warping supervillain. None of the builders in the UK were familiar enough with managing the effects of warped reality on structural members, or how to deal with potential pockets of raw chaos or dimensional marbles. Damage Control had lots of that sort of experience and a desire to expand their operations into Europe. Luckily for Harry, the dimensional engineering team had already been through the structure before he had started working there. _With my luck I would have tripped into a really nasty reality – where everyone was a Dursley or a Malfoy or something._

After Harry was hired he convinced Ms. Chapel to let him try to finish up most of the interior demolition by himself with the rest of the crew gone. Ms. Chapel let him do one section to prove he could do it without damaging the exterior. Harry had gone back to Flourish and Blott's and bought every book on construction magic he could find. He also picked up the Runes, Charms, and DADA texts for all seven years. He had been studying spells that he thought would be particularly helpful. The Unbreakable Charm and the Sticking Charm proved most useful during his solo demolition trial. He made all the exterior walls unbreakable. This took dozens of castings of the charm, but Harry had learned that he never got tired from casting. His spells were not much more powerful than his classmates, but he could cast all day and all night without tiring.

Once the things he did not want to break could not be broken he started smashing all the walls and floors with his hands and feet, working from the interior towards the exterior. Once he got a section of the façade free of the interior, he would use a sticking charm to prop a steel beam against the wall, increasing its stability. Finally Harry used the shrinking charm on the debris and gathered it all into a large rubbish bin, which he took out to the site dump. He made sure no one could see him reverse the spell, letting the debris grow back to its normal size. It only took him an hour to clear the test section and the next morning Ms. Chapel was impressed.

That weekend Harry was given two nights alone on the site and he finished two month's worth of demolition. The next week the crew started the reconstruction phase. Harry was mostly used to move tools and materials around. It was not as fun, but he enjoyed working with the crew. Some were a little rough, not physically after they had seen him tote and carry tons of stuff, but socially. Harry tended to avoid the rough ones. Some of the crew, especially the older guys or female members, seemed to adopt Harry as an honorary son or kid brother.

"Are you coming to Jester's Harry?" Sarah Bowman asked. Sarah was the woman who had been holding up the debris when the building has been collapsing. She was a special contractor, like Harry. That means she had special powers. Hers were very specific and not used very often. She could generate anti-gravity fields with the palms of her hands. That meant she could lift almost anything straight up. But that was all she could do. Once she had lifted an object she could not move it or do anything else to it. She did not use her powers in her job. She was an architectural engineer. She had been particularly friendly to Harry since he started on the job.

"Yeah, I think I'll be there," Harry replied. "I love their nachos."

"Harry, Sarah, I'm glad I caught you before you headed out. I need a favor." Ms. Chapel said as she came out of the terrapin office. "Please come in." Harry let Ms. Bowman precede him then walked very carefully in the prefabricated building. Ms. Chapel had assured him it was reinforced and could carry more than his weight, but he was not sure he trusted the builder. "The Damage Control home office has asked for you two to fly to New York and help out on a clearance/reconstruct job they have there. Buried deep under the NYC Public Library and the old Knox Building there's a HYDRA base that was recently cleaned out. In that base there's a vault or safe of some sort buried in such a way that they can't get heavy lifting machinery to it without a lot of extra work. They hope that between the two of you, you'll be able to empty the safe out without tearing up the ground around and buildings above it."

"A trip to Manhattan," Ms. Bowman said, "I'm game. Might I be able to stop in Toronto on the way there or back? It is my Aunt's 70th birthday coming up and I would love to be there for it."

"Should be doable. I keep forgetting you're Canadian. What about you Harry?"

"I …uh … well, there might be a problem." Harry avoided the eyes of the two women. "Could I talk with you … in private?"

"Sure. Sarah, why don't you go home and get packed. Figure you'll be gone a week. Shouldn't be that long, but just in case. Let me know about taking time in Toronto and we'll book your flight back here from there." Ms. Bowman smiled at Harry and nodded at Ms. Chapel. After she had left Harry's boss turned to him. "Now, what is this problem?"

"I don't have a passport."

"We can get you a passport overnight. Two days at the longest." She looked at Harry, who still wouldn't meet her eyes. After several minutes of silence while the boy argued with himself, he finally looked at her.

"I can't get a passport because Henry Bond is not my real name. I'm sort of hiding from some people and have been using a fake ID."

"I know. We do a pretty extensive background check before letting you work for us. I don't know your real name, but someone in the UK government does." Harry looked shocked. "They're the ones that hired Damage Control for this job, and they cleared you for working with us."

"And they'll give me a passport?"

"Have you ever heard of SHIELD?" Ms. Chapel asked. Harry thought for a bit. The name sounded vaguely familiar.

"Maybe, but I can't think of who or what it is."

"It's an international organization that, among other things, hired us to deal with the old HYDRA base in New York. We do a lot of work for SHIELD. They asked for you in particular and I'm sure they can wrangle a passport to get you over there and back."

"Does SHIELD know who I really am?"

"Probably, but I don't know and I don't need to know. So, given that we can get you a passport, are you willing to come help us in New York?"

"Sure!" Harry was excited. When he lived with the Dursleys, he had never gotten to go anywhere. He'd still never flown on an airplane. That stopped him for a moment. "Um…one other thing, I'm really heavy. Will I be able to fly on an airplane?"

"How heavy are you? Or how heavy will you be on the plane?"

"I'm a bit over 700lbs. As far as I know I'm always the same weight. I've never flown, but I don't know why that might make a difference."

"Some supers have multiple forms or other variables. Seven hundred pounds should be no problem. We'll have to get you a couple or three seats near the center of the cabin, but that should be doable. Just be real careful not to use your strength on the plane. You could easily tear through the fuselage and depressurize the cabin. That would be bad."

"Okay, I'll be careful."

The trip to New York turned out to be fairly uneventful. Harry was given a passport and official ID with his fake information on it. The flight was a bit disappointing. Because he had to sit in the middle of the cabin, he could not look out the windows. He tried sneaking a few peeks when he got out of his seat to go to the toilet, but was quickly asked to go back to his seat. He was unbalancing the plane. When he got to New York we was nervous going about through passport control, but a man in a dark suit and sunglasses met Harry's party before they reached immigration and customs and took them through a side door. They were led out of the airport to a waiting van which quickly ferried them to a hotel in midtown Manhattan. Harry spent the whole trip with his face glued to the window, trying to take in every sight, every skyscraper, every yellow cab and hotdog stand and ... everything. _I can't believe I'm really here_. Harry gloated. _Dudley's never been outside the country, much less to New York City!_

When Harry got to his room he immediately started casting unbreakable charms on the furniture. Ever since his second growth spurt his strength had increased, as well as his mass. It had become too common for him to accidentally break things. He had started casting that spell on everything with which he came into regular contact; clothes, beds, chairs, flatware, cutlery, everything. He had become expert at casting it silently and wandlessly. He wanted to be sure not to crush the chairs or break the bed. In the morning he stepped into the shower and winced when the plastic tub cracked under his weight. Harry quickly cast a Repairing Charm then an Unbreakable. He met Ms. Chapel and Ms. Bowman in the restaurant at 8am.

"How'd you sleep?" Ms. Bowman asked.

"Not bad," Harry replied. "It is always easy to sleep on a comfy bed with no roommates performing their nightly symphony of snores."

"Ahh yes, the joys of dorm living." Ms. Bowman smiled. "I didn't realize you were at university. What are you studying?"

"I'm currently studying mythology, folklore, and ancient rituals. A bit of Latin to go with it." Harry gave the cover story he and Hermione had once concocted when discussing what they would put on university applications if they ever wanted to continue their normal education. After working for several weeks in the real world, Harry had realized how like one of those proverbial 'lost tribes' the wizarding world was. He really liked a lot of things about the wizarding world, but he was not sure he would stay in it his whole life.

"That sounds ... very esoteric," Ms. Bowman said uncertainly. "Not a lot of jobs in myths and folklore."

"More than you might think," Ms. Chapel disagreed. "Our client has someone like that working on this current project. Our company has been known to hire all sorts of specialists."

"I like what I am studying, but have been thinking I may want to change directions in the future. There is so much to learn in this world. I really can't make up my mind."

"Oh, look at the time," Ms. Chapel said. "We have to hurry. Our ride picks us up in 15 minutes. Eat quick."

When they arrived at the worksite they found an old ten or twelve story building with the first few floors wrapped in the Damage Control scaffolding. Harry could see that something had smashed out of the second floor and DC was in the process of repairing the breech. The building was attached to a modern glass high rise, but that building was undamaged. Across a very busy Fifth Avenue was the New York Public Library. It looked a little like the National Gallery in London. Ms. Chapel was talking to a man in DC overalls.

"This way you two. Grab some covers and a tag. Ollie will take you down and explain the situation. I have to make some calls. Report back when you've had your look and we'll figure out where to go from there."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said. The two special contractors followed the man, Ollie, into the hollowed out shell of the building's ground floor. There was a hole torn into the floor with a lift rigged to lower them into the hidden base.

"Put these on," Ollie said. "The tag's a radio communicator and transponder. It has a global range and is supposed to work across at least two dimensional barriers, if you should be sucked through any transdimensional portals. Not that that's likely to happen or anything."

"Riiiight," Ms. Bowman said. Harry just shrugged and attached the tag to his coveralls. They took the elevator down and Ollie took them through the ruins of the old base. Harry saw scorch marks on surfaces and cracks in the walls.

"This must have been some battle," Harry mused.

"Over this way," Ollie directed. He led them down several levels. The walls and floor went from metal and concrete to brick and stone. It looked older but still had the multi-headed serpentine HYDRA imagery throughout this part of the base. They came to a large vault like door. Harry recognized the carvings on the edge of the door as Futhark runes, but did not know enough about them to have any idea what they said or meant. Several of the runes had been damaged during the battle. Harry could not sense any magic powering the array.

"Behind here is a tight corridor with the item to be removed seal into the wall at the end." Ollie explained. He yanked the vault door open. "Directly above us is the city's main library. If you can't get this thing out of there then we are going to have to dig down from the library and get some sort of crane to lift this thing out of there. SHIELD wants it out ASAP, so I hope you can do something. Anyway, this is as far as I go. That thing in there gives me the willies."

Ms. Bowman looked to Harry. "Feel free to go first."

"Right." Harry entered the vault. The DC team has strung lights so he could see the object in question. It appeared to be a chest or casket of some sort. It was ensconced in an alcove that looked to have been specially made for it. It was made of stone bound in metal, iron from what Harry had been taught at Hogwarts. Cold iron had limited anti-magical properties. There were runes all over the chest, and Harry could feel the power bound into it. More rune inscribed bars of iron formed a cage in front of the casket. There was no door. Ms. Bowman came up behind him.

"It looks like that enclosure was built especially to hold the box. And those bars were set after the box was put in place." She pointed to where the bars were bolted to the surrounding walls.

"These are Norse runes, like from the Vikings." Harry pointed, running his finger over the carvings without touching them. "This one means dragon, and this one means power. I think this one is for general protection or warding. Not sure about the rest."

"Looks like that folklore can come in handy after all." She turned to Harry. "This is well out of my wheelhouse. If you have any knowledge of this, I say you're in charge. So what do we do?"

"This may sounds weird, but I am gonna ask you to leave me alone in here. There are a few things I want to try but I don't want to risk you and Ollie."

"Bowman to Chapel, can you hear me?" Ms. Bowman tried her communications tag.

"Chapel here, I read you. What's up?"

"Bond wants to try something so Ollie and I are coming back up."

"You should be able to see us on cameras 14 and 15," Ollie said over the circuit.

"I got you," Ms. Chapel replied. "Wave for me Harry." Harry waved. "Come on up Sarah. We'll watch from here."

As the others left, Harry thought to himself, _That's not quite what I had in mind. I can't use my magic if I'm on camera._ He waited until he heard the elevator going up. He looked and saw the camera covering the vault would not be able to see what he was doing inside. Walking past the camera focused on the enclosure and the cage, he bumped it so that it was knocked askew, facing away from the chest. Setting his communications tag down next to the camera, Harry could not hear Ms. Chapel's demands that he fix the image.

He touched the enchanted bars and felt the magic in them resisting his own magic. He could feel the pulse of power in the stone in his sternum and the bands on his arms. It beat in time with the waves coming off the bars. He let go. He did not know of any real curse-breaking spells so he tried what he knew. Waving his hand he cast " _Finite Incantatem!"_ pushing as much power into it as he could. He saw the bars resist his effort with a shower of sparks. "Oh, well. Let's try this the direct way then."

The young wizard grabbed the bars and tried to rip them out of the wall. They resisted. Harry felt the magic of the crystal surround him and the bars tore apart with a rending screech and a flash of light. Harry stepped forward and touched the chest. He could feel more enchantments. He grabbed the handles and lifted. The runes on the walls flashed. It felt like the coffer was glued to the floor of the enclosure. The force holding the chest stretched then snapped, rocking Harry back as the tension released. As the wizard turned towards the vault door, the casket clutched in his hands, an explosion sounded just above his head. The stone dome of the roof shattered, releasing tons of rock to crash down on Harry, burying him.

After a moment the roar of falling rock subsided and the debris settled. Harry and his cargo were completely encased. He could not see in the darkness but he could feel the stone pressing on him from all sides. _Why aren't I dead?_ He thought. _I should be completely crushed. I can't even breathe, but that doesn't seem to matter. I guess I am a lot tougher than I thought. So now what?_

Harry tried to move forward. He felt the stone resist, but pressed on using his new strength. The stone in front of him began to crumble into rubble which shifted around him as he moved forward. It was like swimming in gravel, except he never seemed to lose his footing. _This is impossible. It must be magic._

Step by slow step he moved towards where he remembered the stairs leading down to this level were. He navigated by instinct, using the same innate three dimensional direction sense that made him such an accomplished flier. He tried to step upwards and the rubble supported him as he moved. After some time he made his way free of the rubble. He was on the stairs, the bottom of which was covered in fallen rock. His head came out of the debris like he was surfacing from a pool. He took a deep breath and saw light coming from fixtures on the next level. He looked at his watch to see how long he had been down there, but it, like almost everything he had been wearing was crushed or torn. Hefting the casket, which was about the size of his school trunk, he made his way back to the lift.

As Harry rode the lift to the hollowed out building's ground floor he was expecting a group of unhappy Damage Control people to be waiting to yell at him. Instead he saw a battleground. On one side here were ten or twelve Damage Control workers, including Ms. Chapel, Ms, Bowman, and Ollie, all in their red and brown overalls with the big bulldog head insignia. Attacking them were two identical muscular men in tight red and blue costumes with high collars framing white skull masks, four man-sized moving mannequins, and three Hagrid-sized mannequins. The mannequins looked like blank grey puppets with knobby joints and faceless heads. They seemed to be moving on their own.

The attackers had taken down most of the defenders. The DC crew that were still up were hiding behind equipment and trying to defend themselves with nail guns, sledgehammers, and crowbars. Harry watched as one of the red and blue twins who seemed to be floating on a small purple cloud conjured a large egg from nowhere and tossed it into a group of DC workers. The egg exploded, releasing a gas that had the workers coughing and keeling over almost instantly. Another worker managed to catch one of the mannequins in the head with a crowbar. There seemed to be no effect, but the mannequin turned and backhanded the guy who flew back and slammed into a wall. Harry saw Ms. Bowman lift one of the giants. But a pie conjured and thrown by one of the twins caught her in the face. She dropped the attacker and started to claw at the gooey dough that was blocking her breathing and sight.

"Hey!" Harry called. He dropped the chest and ran to Ms. Bowman. He slammed into the giant automaton. As he closed the distance the young wizard could see the thing was not alive. It was made of some sort of ceramic and metal animated by magic. So he did not hold back. He smashed through the giant, sending pieces in all directions. "It's gonna be alright," He said as he laid a hand gently on Ms. Bowman's back. "Let me try to get this off of you." Harry cast a quick Scouring Charm which vanished the dough. Ms. Bowman took a deep breath then screamed.

Harry was knocked across the room by the second giant. He crashed into a pillar, cracking the concrete, and slid to the floor. The two red and blue men flew in front of him. "What do we have here, Brother?" one asked. His voice was surprisingly high and reedy for a man his size.

"Looks like we have a hero, Brother," answered the other.

"And such a big, brawny one. I didn't think there would be any heroes here."

"Looks like his bad luck. Maybe after we kill him, we can pry that lovely jewel out of his chest."

"Speaking of chests, it looks like he saved us the trouble by bringing the Dragonstone to us."

"We'll have to find a special way to thank him." One of the twins pulled a small doll from nowhere and started to manipulate it as he rose higher into the air. The ceiling was at least two stories up so he was able to get well out of Harry's reach. The other twin started tossing strands of threads at the young wizard. Where they touched they stuck like spider web. When Harry tried to brush them away they felt like steel. Harry brushed harder and the strands snapped. The brother tossed a handful of glittering dust in Harry's face. It formed into a cloud that blinded him. Several mannequins rushed into the cloud and slammed into the young wizard. Harry punched the first one to reach him. It was one of the man-sized automata and it flew back, bursting to flinders against a pillar. _Christ,_ Harry thought. _If that had been a person I would have killed him. I have to be more careful. I can't let that happen._

Another of the mannequins pounded on Harry, who could barely feel the blows. _These,_ Harry thought _, I can hit._ And he did, bringing his fist down on the head of the puppet. It broke to pieces. Before he could reach for another he heard a scream. He stepped forward out of the cloud. Two of the mannequins and one of the twins were threatening Ms. Chapel and the Damage Control workers. They had managed to gather into a corner, but now had nowhere to retreat. Harry rushed to them, knocking the mannequins aside. He placed himself between his comrades and the enemy. The mannequins started pelting the crew with sharp rocks. The twin conjured several items and threw them into the corner. Ms. Bowman held a sheet of concrete over their heads providing some shelter. Harry picked up a plank of wood and swatted the missiles out of the air.

"Look!" Ms. Chappel pointed at the chest Harry had dropped at the lift. The two remaining giants had grabbed the chest and were slowly carrying it towards the opening to the street. The second twin was directing their movement with his doll. "You have to stop them. We can hold these off."

"No you can't." The nearby twin conjured a machine gun, something Harry had never seen done before. "He can stop them or he can protect you. He can't do both."

"Watch me," Harry said. He tossed the board in his hand like a Frisbee at the two mannequins. It sliced through them and they dropped to the floor. The skull faced menace charged the machine gun and brought it to bear on the DC crew. Before he could fire. Harry snapped off a Disarming Charm. It was obvious that the flying fiend had not been expecting it. His gun was wrenched from his hand and he was knocked off his cloud by the " _Expelliarmus!"_ Harry tracked him and cast " _Petrificus Totalus!"_ when his target had hit the ground. The costumed criminal locked up tight and lay still. The surprise in his eyes was visible even through his mask.

"Percy!" called the remaining twin. He gestured for his puppets to continue removing the casket while he flew towards Harry. Before the twin could conjure anything, Harry cast " _Finite!"_ at the cloud. It vanished leaving the conjuror arcing into the ground. The villain rolled upon landing, dodging Harry's follow-up Body Bind. He conjured an egg which he threw. Harry caught it like a snitch and clasped it in both huge hands. He felt it explode, pelting his palms with shrapnel. Harry cast a pair of Tripping Jinxes at the fleeing giants, He missed one but caught the other, sending it toppling to the ground. The chest crashed down, cracking the concrete. "No! You can't stop us." The twin yelled to his giants. "Crush him!"

The two giants rushed Harry, who ran to meet them, trying to keep them away from his friends. The three powerhouses slammed into each other and Harry continued forward leaving wreckage in his wake. Harry continued forward until he had grabbed up the chest. When he turned back to the twins he saw them vanish in a puff of smoke.

"No," Harry shouted.

"Yeah, they do that," came a voice from the roof. Harry whirled around. He saw a man dressed in a red and blue bodysuit with black webbing and a spider emblem at the center of his chest.

"Spider-man!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Unstoppable!**

 **Chapter Six**

"Spider-man!" Ms. Chapel exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Where else would I be? This is where all the action is. Or rather was," The costumed wall-crawler leaped to land between Harry and the Damage Control crew. Even Harry, who the Dursleys had kept from most media while growing up, had heard of the costumed crime fighter. He was one of the most famous superheroes in the world. Exactly what they said about him varied, but he had been in the media's eye for almost a decade. Harry was more than a little star struck. "Kid, you can't just hog all the bad guys. I suspect you are new to this hero gig, but you have to learn to share."

"I'm not a hero," Harry protested.

"Not sure my bulldog buddies would agree. I have fought the Brothers Grimm before. They may be annoying as heck but they are no pushovers, and they seemed to have new toys. I've never seen these particular puppets before. So hero or not you did good." Spider-man gestured to the stone chest. "Is this what they were after?"

"It seems to be," Ms. Chapel answered. "They came in after our crew went down to bring this up."

"What is it?"

"We don't know. This was an old HYDRA base from the 60's. That chest was locked into a vault. We had to bring in some specialists to get it out." Harry was a little surprised at how comfortably his boss was talking to the masked man. _I guess they know each other pretty well. She must work with lots of superheroes._

"It was locked behind some pretty powerful wards," Harry added.

"Wards?" Spider-man asked. "So it's magic? That makes sense. The Grimm Twins are often involved in the occult. Is that why you're here?"

Harry had no idea what the laws about magical secrecy were in the U.S. The Brothers Grimm were obviously magical, so Harry assumed that supers were how American wizards and witches hid themselves in plain sight. If Ms. Chapel know about magic then she might be a witch herself. Still no reason to take a chance. "Um...I'm not sure what you mean by magic. Magic isn't real. Everyone knows that. I was talking about the bars and stuff. Very hard to get that out. It caused the whole tunnel to collapse."

"What!" Ms. Bowman interjected. "Are you alright?" She started looking him over. Harry basked for a minute in the almost maternal care.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It ... must have missed me."

"Maybe but it made a mess of your clothes," Spider-man quipped. Harry noticed that his Damage Control coveralls were shredded. Even the clothes he had charmed Unbreakable were torn, though not quite as badly. His greatest concern was that the Philosophers Stone embedded in his sternum was clearly visible. It was glowing faintly, pulsing in time to his heartbeat. Spider-man pointed to the glowing gem.

"If you think magic isn't real, I wonder how you explain that. You aren't related to Ulysses Bloodstone are you?"

"Who?"

"Immortal guy. Has a similar looking stone embedded in his chest. Just like that."

"No?" Harry's uncertainty with the whole situation showed in his voice. Harry was sure Spider-man was smirking under his mask. _The masked menace._ Harry was beginning to favor the negative views of the wall-crawler who crouched to examine the chest more closely.

"From the runes carved on this thing, I would guess that it's really old, magical, or both." He tried to lift the box. He was able to get it off the ground but it looked like it took a significant effort. "And it weights tons. Ms. Chapel, I am going to suggest that we get this to the best person for dealing with ancient mystical mystery items, Doctor Strange."

"But ..."

"If the Grimmsters want this, they'll be back. And they usually work with other nogoodniks so they probably won't be alone."

"SHIELD hired us to clear out and demolish this base. They want the chest." Ms. Chapel argued.

"It figures Nick is involved in this," Spider-man mused. "Let me use your phone. I'll sort this out." Ms. Chapel sent Ollie to fetch a phone. He brought back a device the size of a brick, with a long, fat antenna. She handed it to the hero who dialed a number. "Wong? Is the Doc in? … Doc? This is your friendly neighborhood Spider-man. I've got a mystical doohickey that I think you should look at. You mind if I make a house call? … Ok, be there in a bit." He looked at Harry then continued. "I'll be bringing someone I think needs to talk with you too."

After he rang off, he dialed again. "Nick! It's your favorite wall-crawler … No, not Beast … Nightcrawler? What is it with these X-guys? … Toad! Now you're being mean. He doesn't even cling with anything but his tongue, and that is just unhygienic. It's Spidey. What do you mean how did I get this number? You gave it to me. Or did Reed? Anyway I'm here to do you a favor. Your people have got Damage Control cleaning out an old HYDRA base in Manhattan. They came across a magical mystery box and the Brothers Grimm tried to take it. One of the Bulldogs scared them off, but they'll be back. I want to get the magic box to Doc Strange. You know he's better able to handle magical weirdness than you or me … Your magic guys are a joke, remember the Bayonne incident? … Yeah, but it wasn't their first magical disaster. You really want to look at hiring experts who didn't get their training at Magicians-R-Us … Come on, SHIELD doesn't hold a candle, much less a bell or book, to Doctor Strange when it comes to this kind of stuff … OK. Now talk to Ms. Chapel." Spider-man handed the phone to the DC crew chief. She walked away so they could not hear her conversation.

"Can you lift that?" The hero asked Harry, pointing to the chest.

"Sure." Harry hefted the box. It was heavy, but not unmanageable. "Where are we taking it?"

"Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum in Greenwich Village. That is such a cool name. I wonder if I could get a Spider Sanctorum or something. Maybe just a spider condo somewhere with a view of the Park? Anyway, I don't think I ever got your name."

"Harry Bond." They shook hands. Without thinking, Harry held the chest against his hip with his left hand.

"Well Harry, I think you need to talk to my buddy the Doc too. At the least you can tell him about these wards you mentioned. He is a, no, _the_ expert in those sorts of things and may be able to get good information, even if you didn't recognize what you saw."

"I'll have to see what Ms. Chapel says." They watched her having a serious discussion on the phone. After a few minutes she rang off and returned to the group.

"SHIELD wants us to transport the chest to Doctor Strange. Can you come with us for security? If the bad guys want this, they'll probably try to get it from us before we get there, rather than tangle with the Sorcerer Supreme."

Harry's ears perked at the title. He had not heard it before, but wondered if it had anything to do with the Supreme Mugwump. He really did not want Professor Dumbledore to hear anything about him being out of the country, much less his being in magical battles in front of normal people. Even if they did seem to know about magic already.

"Certainly. It saves me, or more likely the kid here as he seems stronger, from having to lug that thing twenty-some-odd blocks. I can't swing with it and I doubt I can get a cab to take it. Let's get it loaded and get out of here. I hate being a sitting spider."

Harry loaded the chest into a large armored carrier that had been scheduled to take any items found to a secure SHIELD holding facility. He decided to ride in the back with the box, just in case. Spider-man was riding on the roof. Some minutes later the carrier stopped and Ms. Chapel opened the door. "Harry, what do you want to do? Doctor Strange is both an expert and a good man. I know you're hiding, though I'm not sure from whom. I suspect that you have a magical background. Those sure sounded like Latin spells you were tossing around back there. If you're in some sort of magical trouble, Doctor Strange is your best bet for getting help. But it's your decision. You're doing great work for Damage Control. You're one of us now. So you can just come back to London and we'll continue work there. Or you can see what you can find out here. I'll be in town for three more days, at least. Here is my number. If you stay here, you can still change your mind later. Please call me either way."

"Thanks," Harry took the card with her contact information. "I think I should stay for a bit. I need answers to a lot of questions. If this bloke can help me, I need to take advantage of that. If he can't, I appreciate that you still have a place for me."

"Always and any time. Let me know either way, ok?"

"Will do." Harry was surprised when the older woman gathered him into a hug. Afterwards she and the DC carrier pulled away. Spider-man was toting the chest up the stairs to the door of the odd looking townhouse. As they reached the door, it opened to reveal a bald, Asian man in a green silk outfit.

"Please come in," the bald man invited blandly, as if having a man dressed as a spider and another man in torn clothed with a glowing gem in his chest delivering ancient artifacts was an everyday occurrence. "The Master is expecting you. Follow me."

Spider-man gave the chest to Harry to carry. The young wizard could feel the magic in the house. It was powerful and protective. The closest thing Harry could compare it with was Hogwarts. Like in the Headmaster's office there were odd devices emitting chimes and hoot on tables and shelves next to leather bound tomes and innumerable books. The air smelled of some incense that Harry had never encountered. The decorations were a mix of Eastern, Western, and just plain weird.

"Please do not touch that," their guide warned. Harry noticed the web-slinger pull his hand back from a crystal orb that stood with no visible support on one of the shelves. Harry wondered how it did not roll away. After a short walk through several rooms, Harry suspected the inside of the house was larger than the outside, they came to the largest room they had yet seen. Inside was a man. He was dressed in a mix of normal and wizarding style. The young wizard wondered if the deep red robe, with its gold trim that the man wore over his white shirt and black trousers, would be flashy enough for the Headmaster to appreciate. Harry was comforted by the Gryffindor colors. The man had dark hair with graying temples and an impressive mustache. He wore a large gold amulet around his neck.

"Doc!" Spider-man exclaimed like he was greeting a long lost friend. The man nodded absently while scrutinizing Harry and the chest.

"Please set that on the table."

"Um...It's pretty heavy," Harry demurred.

"I assure you the table will offer sufficient support." Harry shrugged and set the chest on the table. He was surprised when the table did not even groan under the weight. _Magic,_ Harry thought, _lots of magic around here._

Dr. Strange traced the runes on the chest's bindings, carefully not touching the box or the writing. After a moment he stepped back and placed his fingers on his amulet. "May the All-Seeing Eye of Agamotto reveal the truth of this." The amulet opened. A large eye looked out. It looked at the chest, sending out a cone of golden light that illuminated the mysterious box. After a moment the eye turned on Harry, bathing him min the same light.

Harry could feel the gem in his chest begin to burn, as did the bands on his wrist. Images flashed in his mind, memories playing, going backwards in time. He experienced his Hogwarts years, then his time at the Dursleys, Finally he saw something he had never imagined. He watched as a red-haired woman, his mother, performed some sort of ritual over a baby. She sealed it with her blood, then the door to the nursery blasted open and Voldemort entered.

"Stand aside, woman."

"Please take me. Leave my baby. Take me instead."

"Stand aside, I say!"

"No!" Harry saw her cut down with a green curse. Then the Dark Lord turned his wand on the child. Another green flash, then nothing.

The golden illumination ended and Harry saw the Eye amulet close. "My sincerest apologies, Mr. Potter. I had not intended to invade your privacy like that. The Eye detected the power of Cyttorak and chose to investigate you on its own. Please have a seat."

"What was that?" Spider-man asked.

"The All-Seeing Eye. It helped Mr. Potter explore his past."

"Potter? I thought your name was Bond. Oh wait, I get it. A Brit with a secret identity named Bond. You're a spy! How cool is that?"

"No, I'm not a spy. But my real name is Potter, Harry Potter."

"The Boy-Who-Lived," Doctor Strange added.

"You've heard of me?"

"I don't have much interaction with the European wizarding world. They're far too reclusive. They outlawed sorcery more than two hundred years ago and separated from most of the rest of the magical world before the turn of the last century. While I'm not welcome there, I keep an eye on them as they can produce magical dangers that may threaten those outside their community. I know of your defeat of the last 'Dark Lord', though I'd not heard of his partial return. Now we know how he was defeated and what happened to you."

"We do?" Spider-man asked.

"We do?" Harry echoed.

"I will not respond 'We do.' I refuse to be the straight man in a comedy trio. Harry, may I call you Harry?" Harry nodded. "Your mother invoked the power of Cyttorak to protect you when you were attacked as a child. Her own sacrifice fueled the ritual. Voldemort's attack on you rebounding not only built a link between the two of you with a fraction of his soul lodging in your wound, but opened a channel to the Crimson Chaos and to Cyttorak himself. That channel remained dormant until you touched the Philosopher's Stone. The Stone is Flammel's attempt to duplicate the power of the Bloodstone. Flammel somehow got a shard of the Crimson Ruby of Cyttorak and incorporated it into the construction of his Stone. When you touched it, Cyttorak's Ruby open the dormant channel fully, flooding you with the power of Cyttorak's avatar, the Juggernaut."

"Juggernaut!" Spider-man suddenly crouched, ready for combat. "That's not good."

Harry backed up, holding his hands out in a sign of peace. He looked at Spider-man then at Doctor Strange. "I … don't know what you're talking about."

"Harry there's no Statute of Secrecy outside of Wizarding Europe. The world knows about magic, even if most people still don't believe in it. They think it's just one more type of superpower, like mutants, aliens, and super science. You don't have to hide or deny what you are here, young wizard."

"No, that's not what I mean. I mean I'm glad I'm not breaking the law, but I mean I don't know anything about Bloodstones or Cyttorak – though I have been looking for that name for a while – and I don't know anything about a juggernaut."

"Let us go into the sitting room. We can relax and discuss this. Magic is vast and mysterious, and there is much that is ignored by the wizards of Britain. It may take some time to explain."

"Um...that's all great," Spider-man broke in, "but I have a date tonight so I can't stay for Magic 101. Before you get into that, can I ask about the mystery box?"

"This is the container of the Dragonstone, an ancient Asgardian artifact that was said to have been created by Odin himself and stolen by the dark elves. Legend claims that the wielder of the Dragonstone can control the dragons of the outer realms. This chest was sealed by Norse mages more than a thousand years ago and has never been opened since. Where was it found?"

"There was an old HYDA base below the Public Library," Harry said when the wall-crawler looked to him to answer. "The Avengers cleared it out a few weeks ago and Damage Control found the chest in a secret vault. The vault was warded, as was the cage and enclosure where the chest was being stored. I tried to counterspell the wards, but that didn't work. In the end, I just yanked the bars free and grabbed the chest. The whole vault collapsed, burying me and the chest."

"How did you get out?" Doctor Strange's voice was soothing, like nothing Harry could say would be wrong.

"I … just walked. Not like the stones weren't there but..."

"No force on Earth can stop the Juggernaut. That is the power of Cyttorak's avatar."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I once tried to fight JuggyBoy by myself," the wall-crawler added. "Nothing I did could touch him. Finally I managed to blind him and lead him into the freshly poured foundation of a new skyscraper. He was buried in a million tons of concrete, but he just walked out a few months later. Not my favorite foe."

"It would appear you do not have the full power of the Juggernaut, yet. When you needed more power while trying to destroy the diary horcrux, you called out for help. You unwittingly invoked Cyttorak's aid, and having just offered him the life of a thousand year old monster as a sacrifice, he gave you more of his power."

"That's why I had the second growth spurt." The Sorcerer nodded.

"You must be very careful about how you ask for power. Binding yourself wholly to a demon like Cyttorak may tarnish your soul. I can teach you to safely invoke his power. It is a type of magic you will not find at Hogwarts. I wonder where your mother learned it."

"Demon!" Harry had no desire to have anything to do with demons. He did not even know they were real.

"That word has many meanings, and Cyttorak is outside your comprehension. He is a power outside our world and a being of pure chaos. He is not evil, as such, but his power can cause you to take actions and perform deeds you would not choose to do. I can teach you to be careful and control this power."

"I killed Quirrell, didn't I?"

"Yes, and that action, along with the sacrifice of the horcrux in your scar, sealed your bond to Cyttorak, as represented by the crimson bands on your arms and the gem in your chest. Killing your professor was not deliberate on your part. But your strength is so great that you can kill with a thoughtless gesture."

"Can't I just give it up? I don't want it. I don't want to be a killer."

"That's beyond even my power. But I can help you learn to be safe."

"I guess that is the best I can hope for."

"Well, I'm glad that is settled. Doc has a new apprentice. Young Juggy gets trained to be a good guy, and I get to my date on time. Are you going to keep the Dragon chest thing?"

"I will. I will let Director Fury know this is no longer SHIELD's concern."

"Harry," Spider-man laid a hand on the young wizard's arm. "A long time ago a wise man told me that with great power comes great responsibility. I didn't listen and bad things happened. Bad things happen to all of us. In your case, it wasn't your decision that led to the bad things. Now you have a chance to choose to do good with your power. To be responsible. Don't dwell too much on the bad. Think about the good you've done and can do in the future. It's the only way to survive this crazy life."

The masked man leaped to a circular window in the ceiling. "And you need a name and mask if you're going to get into any more trouble with guys like the Grimms. Trust me, you don't want them tracking down your friends and family. Doc doesn't have to worry about that sort of thing. No one likes him - so no friends. Later!" He slipped out the window and swung away. Doctor Strange just smiled. With a wave of his hand he shut and locked the window.

"Now, let us talk."

Harry moved into the Sanctum. He let Ms. Chapel know he would be staying in New York for the rest of the summer, and thanked her for her help.

Harry spent the summer training with Doctor Strange. The sorcerer taught him to invoke the Crimson Bands and the Scarlet Shield of Cyttorak, calling on the extra-dimensional power of Cyttorak to bind or protect. The Doctor had also told Harry of the avatars of Cyttorak's one true weakness, the lack of protection against telepathic attacks or mind magic. The true Juggernaut wore a protective helmet to cover this weakness. The sorcerer suggested that Harry learn occlumency, the magical art of protecting his mind. So Harry read and meditated and tried to learn his own mind to better protect it.

As Doctor Strange had no personal experience with living in a fragile world with super strength, he called on one of his oldest comrades, Namor. The Atlantean King agreed to work with Harry to help him learn to control his strength in combat situations.

"I can see you have already mastered restraining your strength in day to day activities. But combat requires that you be able to calibrate the amount of force you use while reacting at your top speed. In such situations you instinctively use more strength to achieve more speed," Namor said. "The anger that often accompanies combat can cause you to lose control and attack at full strength."

The Submariner and Harry faced off against each other on the beach of a deserted island in the Atlantic Ocean. Doctor Strange had opened a portal allowing them to travel to the island instantly. "Let me show you." Namor lashed out at Harry, landing a blow that sent Harry flying back into the interior of the small island, crashing through several trees. Despite the power behind the blow, Harry felt no pain. The Atlantean flew up to Harry and hovered just out of his reach.

"That was a medium strength blow for someone of your power, the sort that you would instinctively use in combat. It would utterly destroy a normal human and severely injure most super-powered beings. You cannot use that level of strength in combat unless facing a foe you know can survive it or you will be a killer many times over." Namor landed on the beach with his back to the ocean. "Now hit me. Try to strike swiftly, but only with enough strength to render a normal human unconscious."

It had taken a lot of practice for Harry to learn to calibrate his blows while in a real fight. Namor did not spar. Every bout was a real fight, though Namor did not try very hard. The young wizard had been surprised that the Sea King had shown the patience he had. Namor had taken punch after punch from Harry, some of them far stronger than Harry had intended. One thing Harry finally noticed was that Namor had always positioned them so that Harry's blows knocked him into the water, where the Atlantean healed and regained his strength. After four afternoons spent on the island Namor had declared himself satisfied and suggested Harry continue to practice.

At this point Wong, Doctor Strange's manservant, had gotten involved. He had set Harry up with a heavy bag and a speed bag. Harry practiced hitting them without actually damaging them. He had gotten a lot of practice with his Repairing Charms. The small man had turned out to be an expert martial artist. He would spar with the young wizard and was able to avoid or roll with most of Harry's attacks. After two weeks Wong declared Harry safe enough to be let back among the populace.

Spider-man had stopped by twice during Harry's time with Doctor Strange. They had even sparred under Wong's watchful eye. Mostly it had shown that Harry was nowhere near able to take on a fighter of Spider-man's caliber. When Harry included his magic and the new invocations things went a little better for the wizard, but the wall-crawler still prevailed.

"I still say you should get a mask and costume. I even have a name for you. After watching you in the HYDRA base defending your friends from the Brothers Grimm. I decided you are Bastion, the last line of defense."

Harry had smiled and replied, "I'm no hero. I don't need a costume or code name. I just want to be Harry."

"Well remember Harry, great power, great responsibility. In this world you may not have the option to be "just" anyone. Take care."

Near the end of August Doctor Strange had opened a portal to a house outside of London. "I cannot come with you. Albus Dumbledore and I have crossed paths at the ICW and we do not get along, therefore I have agreed to stay out of Britain unless it is a matter of dire need. I cannot visit you, but if you use this globe, we will at least be able to speak. Take care Harry. There is more to the world, and more to magic, than the European wizards would have you believe. Do not limit yourself with their restraints."

"Thank you Doctor, for all that you have done. I will never be able to repay you."

"Be well and do good, that's all I ask."


	7. Chapter 7

**Unstoppable!**

 **Chapter Seven**

Harry returned to Britain on August 25th. He had kept in contact with Hermione by telephone during the summer. She had kept him apprised of Ron's condition. Halfway through July Ron had recovered consciousness. He spread the word of how Lockhart had attacked him in the girls' washroom once Harry had gone down the tunnel to the Chamber. Ron had prodded the DADA professor to go next, when the man had turned on the boy trying to grab Ron's wand. The wand had cracked in the scuffle. Lockhart managed to get control of the broken wand and tried to cast a Memory Charm on the young Gryffindor. The broken wand exploded, damaging both Lockhart's and Ron's minds. Lockhart was questioned while still somewhat under the effect of the miscast spell. He admitted that he was trying to obliviate Ron like he had obliviated many people before. After some investigation the DMLE found that the author had been obliviating the people who had actually done the heroic deeds he later claimed credit for in his books. The fraud was arrested and was awaiting trial. Ron had gotten his picture in the Daily Prophet. The young redhead was also happy that his family had been given a large settlement from Lockhart's publisher. So Ron was going to be back at Hogwarts with a new wand and likely new supplies as well. Harry was going to meet both Ron and Hermione in Diagon Alley on the 31st to do their final shopping.

Harry called Hermione from his hotel room after he checked in on the 25th. "Hey Hermione …"

"Harry!" Hermione interrupted. "Did you know that Professor Dumbledore is looking for you? He came by here yesterday to see if I knew where you were. He said you'd not been at your family's for the summer. I knew you'd been abroad, but you told me that your relatives had given permission."

"Why would the Headmaster be looking for me? My Aunt and Uncle gave me permission to be gone this summer. They prefer it that I not be at their house. They'd really rather never see me again, and I them. What does _any_ of this have to do with the Headmaster?"

"I'm so sorry that you are not happy at your relatives. I know you don't like it there. I worry that they mistreat you." Hermione stopped for a moment to think about Harry's questions. "I'm not really certain Harry what this has to do with Professor Dumbledore. If your guardians gave you permission to travel then I am not sure why the Headmaster should be so concerned. I mean I'm sure he's only looking out for your best interests, but …"

"It's in my best interest to be where I was this summer. I can't really talk about it over the phone, but I'll explain it all to you when we get together."

"Maybe you should contact the Headmaster and let him know you're alright and are back in the country. I can send Hedwig to you. It's been wonderful to have her here for the summer, but I'm sure she misses you."

"That'd be great Hermione. I'd love to see the old girl again. But I think Professor Dumbledore can wait until I get back to school. What I do outside of school really isn't any of his business."

"Harry!"

"I've not done anything wrong," Harry said, then remembered his false ID and the times he had used to get a bank account, flat, and job.

"Harry?" Harry thought his friend could detect the guilt in his silence.

"Really nothing very wrong and I'll tell you about it later. It has nothing to do with Hogwarts or even the wizarding world."

"Hmmm… Alright. But I would like to know what you got up to this summer. I'll see you on Tuesday?"

"Looking forward to it. It'll be brilliant."

Harry spent the next three days shopping for new clothes and gear for the year. He picked up a speed bag and an empty heavy bag. He figured he could find sand or something to fill it when he got it to Hogwarts. He needed to keep in practice. Not to be a better fighter, but so that he retained control over his strength. He also picked up several books on meditation that Doctor Strange had recommended. He found them in some specialty bookstores in normal London. The Golden Bough was an occultism and spirituality store that had a lot of books and paraphernalia that looked like it should be in the wizarding world but was part of the normal one. Rune tiles and crystal balls, tarot decks and incense were all available. Harry picked up some books on ancient runes and on modern magical societies. These later books talked about neo-pagan religions, non-human magic (Atlanteans, vampires, gods, and fey all had their own chapters), and super mages. Doctor Strange even got a mention in one recent book on super mages, though Doctor Druid seemed to get more pages as the book was printed in Britain.

On the morning of the 30th, Harry went back to King's Cross and retrieved his trunk from left luggage. He took it back to the Lexington House where he unpacked it and combined the contents of both the trunk and his travel duffel. He had previously shrunk everything that he had picked up in the normal world that he did not think he might need before arriving at Hogwarts. He knew that now that he had his wand again he could not cast any more magic until he was on the Express, lest the Trace alert the Ministry. That night he went out for a last dinner at a nice Indonesian restaurant. He had gained a taste for satay while in New York and knew that he was not likely to get it at Hogwarts. Despite all the adventures he had had over the summer, and the freedom he had felt living on his own, Harry was anxious to get back to school. He wanted to see his friends and the old castle had been his only real home. Even the Sanctum Sanctorum had never really felt like he belonged there. It was too connected to the Sorcerer Supreme, who while a nice man and a great teacher, was not family like Ron and Hermione were.

The next morning Harry gathered his gear and checked out. "Go on and fly free today, Hedwig. I'll be staying at the Leaky Caldron if you want to find me tonight. Otherwise I'll see you at Kings Cross or at school" Hedwig clicked twice and head-butted him. She flew off towards a nearby park. Harry never quite knew how much she understood, but he knew she would find him when she wanted to. Hefting his trunk effortlessly to one broad shoulder, Harry started strolling towards Charring Cross Road. He had a bit of time before he was supposed to meet the Grangers and Weasleys. He walked at a faster than leisurely pace as he was looking forward to seeing them. When he got to the Leaky Cauldron he smiled in anticipation. But as soon as he walked through the door and all conversation in the pub stopped as every eyes turned to stare, he lost his happy face.

A flash of light blinded him momentarily. When his vision cleared he saw a photographer heading out the back door towards the Alley. Harry looked around quickly and saw neither of his friends waiting. He moved to the table that offered the most privacy and sat with his back to the wall. _It's funny,_ Harry thought, _I'm just fine going anywhere in the normal world, but because I'm the bloody Boy-Who-Lived I dread being in public in the Wizarding World._

"Mr. Potter, it's good to see you." The old publican came to his table with a tankard of butter beer. "Enjoy a drink on the house."

"Thanks," Harry said hesitantly. "I'm waiting for some friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. You haven't seen them have you?"

"Not sure I know Miss Granger on sight quite yet. I know I've seen her, but I 'm not sure I'd recognize her. I ain't seen any of the Weasleys this morning. Should I let them know you're waiting when they get in?"

"That'd be great. Thanks again."

Harry sat silently sipping his sweet beverage and watching the people come in and out of the pub. Several families came through the Floo and headed to the Alley. Some Harry recognized from Hogwarts, others he did not. He became a little melancholic as he watched the youngsters bask in the bosom of their families. He was pretty satisfied with his life at the moment. He felt he had done well on his own over the summer. But he did miss the idea of family.

When the Eye of Agamotto had unearthed his early memories, especially the one of that tragic Halloween, Harry had experienced actual memories of his parents for the first time. Since then he had been able to recall that scene at will, not that he wanted to dwell on the moments of his parents' deaths. His occlumency meditations had helped him move backwards from that point. Harry had not gotten much, and it was mostly flashes of faces and snippets of sounds, but he was beginning to realize that he had once had a real family himself.

He saw a familiar head of bushy brunette hair come bouncing into the pub, followed by two adults who were obviously her parents. Harry stood and called out "Hermione!" Once again, every voice silenced and all eyes were bouncing between Harry and his female friend. As soon as Hermione acknowledged Harry with a quick wave, the noises resumed, doubled in volume and urgency. _Great, now the whole world will be talking about the Boy-Who-Lived's girl friend. At least I hope they include the space between the two words._ The girl friend in question dragged her parents to Harry's table. She wrapped him in a powerful hug. He returned it delicately, making sure not to squeeze. There was nothing in the world he wanted to hurt less than his best friend.

"Harry, you remember my parents."

"Dr. Granger, Dr. Granger," Harry nodded to each in turn. He realized he was now a couple of inches taller than Hermione's father. _That won't make a concerned pappy happy_ , Harry thought.

"You just keep growing," Mrs. Granger said as she wrapped Harry in a hug only a few degrees less firm than Hermione's had been.

"Good food and clean living," Harry quipped.

"What have you been eating, magic beans?" Mr. Granger held out his hand.

"I don't know about beans, but I did discover the joys of satay this summer," Harry replied, shaking carefully.

"Ohhh, I love Thai food." Hermione said as she took the nearest chair.

"Thai is ok, but I found I really like Indonesian satay. It tastes peanuttier I guess."

"I'm not sure that is a word," Mr. Granger complained.

"I've found the same food can be pretty different from restaurant to restaurant," Mrs. Granger added as she gave her husband a quelling look. "Do you have a favorite?"

"There is a place not far from Victoria Station that has the best satay. I ate there last night, just to get one more serving in. I wonder if we could get the cooks at Hogwarts to try making some."

"I don't even know where the kitchens are, much less who the cooks are. Maybe we could ask the twins. If anyone knows it would be those two reprobates."

"Reprobates!" came voice from behind Harry, who had turned to his back to the pub while talking with the Grangers. He spun to find the Weasleys had arrived.

"I think I like that," continued Twin Two, who was wearing a t-shirt with a large _gebo_ rune one it. The other twin had a _fehu_ rune on his t-shirt. Harry assumed they were misidentifying themselves so he dubbed twin two Fred.

"Not as cool as the Marauders …"

"… But probably more accurate."

"Shut it you two," Ron commanded as he pushed his way between them. "Harry, Hermione, it's great to see you." He pulled a folded newspaper out of his pocket. "Did you see I was in the paper? I got a Citizen Achievement Award from the Minister." Harry looked at the rumpled edition of the Daily Prophet from a few weeks before. On the front page was a picture of Ron shaking hands with an older man in pin-striped robes with a lime green bowler hat. Harry thought he remembered him as the Minister of Magic. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were standing proudly behind Ron. Scabbers could be seen climbing out of his shirt pocket then disappearing back into hiding just before the wizarding photograph repeated its loop.

"That's brilliant! I'm so glad you're better and I think it's wicked the way you took down that fraud Lockhart." Harry gave Ron a careful clout on his shoulder. "Well done."

"Yeah, now let's go shopping," Ron grinned. "I even got some money for new stuff." Harry noticed the Weasley parents wince.

The day proved to be relatively uneventful. There was an argument at the Magical Menagerie when Hermione decided to get a cat that had attacked Ron's rat. Everyone got bit by their new Care of Magical Creatures texts – _The_ _Monster Book of Monsters_. Hermione seemed to be buying books for every class at Hogwarts. Harry did not comment. He had done that at the beginning of summer. And Ron got his new wand, fourteen inches, willow, containing one unicorn tail-hair. One thing they all noticed were the Sirius Black wanted posters all over the Alley. Ron and Hermione explained he was a mass murderer who had escaped Azkaban a few weeks before. Everyone seemed worried about the escape as Black was said to be one of Voldemort's main Death Eaters. His escape put the whole wizarding world at risk.

Mr. Weasley overheard them talking about Black and cautioned them against the criminal. Later that evening Harry overheard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arguing whether or not they should tell Harry about Black being after him. The next morning as the students were waiting to board the train, Mr. Weasley took Harry aside and explained that Black had had been a Death Eater and might be after Harry.

"Harry, swear to me you won't go _looking_ for Black." Mr. Weasley said, with his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Why would I go looking for someone I know wants to kill me?" Harry replied, incredulously. _What must they think of me?_ He thought. "I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds _me_."

"Well try to let this trouble pass you by."

"Thanks for the warning. I appreciate the trust you're showing me, and I'll try not to make you regret it. I'm more worried about those around me if Black tries something. I'll do my best to protect them."

As they were running late, per usual, the only compartment they found free had a sleeping adult in it. They all agreed that it was likely the new DADA professor. Why exactly he was on the train when none of the trio had ever seen any other professors riding to Hogwarts was uncertain. "From the looks of his clothes I'd say maybe he couldn't afford to floo," Ron whispered, running a hand across his own new robes. Hermione turned red and slapped his shoulder. Harry thought _No one more snobby than the_ _nouveau riche_ _._

Several hours into the journey the train slowed to an unexpected stop. Harry noticed ice forming on the window, though he did not feel the cold. What he did feel was something clawing at his nascent mental shields. He heard his mother's voice from his worst memory – _Not my baby! … Take me instead … Step aside …_ He tried to block the invasion with no effect.

"What's happening?" Hermione's voice cracked.

"Nooooo … I don't feel so good…" Ron moaned.

An inhumanly tall skeletal figure, draped in a black tattered cloak, clawed the compartment door open and floated in. The memory of Harry killing Quirrell crashed into his mind causing him to collapse to his knees in shame and guilt. This was followed by a slideshow of the horrors the Dursleys subjected him to as a child. Each dreadful memory seemed to draw the demonic wraith closer until they were almost kissing. With a roar, the sleeping man lunged from his seat brandishing his wand – " _Expecto Patronum!"_ A silvery spectral wolf leapt forth and drove the demon back out the door of the compartment.

"Sirius Black is not here. He's not on this train. Be gone!" called the man as he followed the cloaked monster into the passageway. Harry's slid bonelessly to the floor as his battered brain shut down.

He woke to Malfoy's mocking voice. "I can't believe he actually fainted. Potter is such a little girl." Harry saw he was still lying on the floor of the compartment. Ron and Hermione were blocking the door, keeping Malfoy and his bookends out. But they could not keep the crowd in the passageway from staring through the compartment windows. Harry climbed to his feet and gently moved his friends aside. He stepped forward into the passage, driving the three Slytherins back without actually touching them.

"Yes, Malfoy. I fainted when confronted with a mind shattering demon." Harry looked Draco straight in the eyes, leaning forward just a bit to get a clear connection. "Not very heroic of me. But I never claimed to be a hero. I'm just Harry, just a kid. Like you and Crabbe and Goyle. I don't know what that thing was are but I never want to see one again. And I honestly hope you never come as close to one as I just did. No one should. If you do, I hope that you come out better than I did." Harry tried to be as open and honest as he could. Draco just stared at him, his mouth flapping open and closed. Then he turned and stormed off, dragging his friends with him.

Eventually the mystery man returned and offered chocolate to all the students in the compartment. "Eat this. It lessens the after effects of the dementors."

"Chocolate always makes people feel better. No matter what the ill." Hermione agreed. The man offered a slim smile and headed back out of the compartment.

Harry found out that the dementors, there had been three on the train, turned out to be the guards of the wizard prison Azkaban. They fed on happy thoughts and forced people to relive wither worst memories. If they kiss a person, they suck out their souls. Harry thought they sounded like the worst sort of the eldritch horrors he had read about in Doctor Strange's library. Thinking of Hagrid spending time exposed to those monsters when he had been thrown into Azkaban without a trial last year made Harry wonder what sort of government the Wizarding World had.

Apparently Harry's reaction to the dementors had spread all over the Express before it pulled into Hogsmeade station. He was once again subject to the scorn and pity of his peers. Harry was not sure if that was worse than the fear and hatred he had suffered the previous year. Even Hermione and Ron were looking at him with either pity or concern. He hoped it was the latter. By the time he reached the castle he was wondering exactly why he had been so looking forward to coming back.


	8. Chapter 8

**Unstoppable!**

 **Chapter Eight**

Harry was not surprised when Professor McGonagall 'invited' him to the Headmaster's office. The young wizard remembered how Doctor Strange had described the Headmaster. "He's easily one of the most brilliant and talented wizards in the world. I've no hesitation to admit that Albus knows things I do not. Unfortunately he is also one of the most stubborn and secretive wizards in the world. He'll never honestly admit that anyone knows things he doesn't, or at least that that he could not find out if he wanted to. And he holds his knowledge tight to his vest, offering it out only when absolutely necessary, and often not even then. He never admits to himself that he may be wrong. On the other hand most of what he does is done for what he feels are the best of reasons. If he feels he needs to control you for some reason he will not easily give up that control. He's a great man. And as Lord Acton said, 'Great men are very seldom good men'. Of course I've been called a great man myself. It's quite possible that the reason Albus and I do not get along is that we are too similar rather than too different."

The Headmaster was seated at his desk, Fawkes perched on his shoulder, when Harry entered the office. Both were looking at him thoughtfully, a slight frown playing on the Professor's lips. "Please have a seat, my boy." Harry took the seat and looked steadily at the Headmaster. He knew that the battle of silence was a way to get Harry to break and admit his guilt. But Harry did not think he was guilty. He avoided staring directly into Dumbledore's eyes. Instead he stared at his nose and began to mentally chant his protective mantra. It was at least five minutes before the old wizard sighed and spoke.

"Harry, when you chose to not go home for the summer you caused the protective wards to fall."

"Sir, Privet Drive hasn't been my home for many years, if it ever was. I don't know what wards you're talking about. If there were any there, I had nothing to do with them. So I don't understand how you say I caused them to fall."

"I set powerful protective magics based on your mother's sacrifice on your aunt's house when I placed you there as a baby. While you still called home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you could not be touched or harmed by Voldemort." The Headmaster's voice had an almost hypnotic quality. It sounded like he was sharing a myth or legend rather than reciting facts. "He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You needed to return there only once a year. Your aunt knew this. I explained what I had done in the letter I left, with you, on her doorstep. She knew that allowing you houseroom may well have kept you alive for the past dozen years."

"As I said, that place has never been a home to me, so I don't know if your wards ever worked. Regardless, my aunt and uncle knew I would be away for the summer. They agreed and gave me permission to be gone. They knew it before I ever left Hogwarts in June."

"It is too late now," Dumbledore continued sadly. "The protection is gone when you need it most. It was very foolish of you, my boy. I am most seriously disappointed."

"Then you …" Harry stopped and took a deep breath. He counted to ten, then continued. "Sir, if you had told me about the wards, discussed with me the needs and the specifics, I might have made a different decision. But you didn't tell me so I acted based on the information I had."

"I told you that you needed to stay with the Dursleys."

"An order you had _no_ right to give. You're my Headmaster, and in school matters you have a great deal of authority. But this wasn't a school related issue. My guardians and I decided, as was _our_ right."

Dumbledore looked very put out. Finally he asked what Harry thought he really wanted to know. "Where were you this summer, Harry?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Don't you trust me anymore, Harry? What have I done to deserve such?"

"Sir, I've thought a lot about my feelings towards you this summer. I expected you'd to want to know where I've been. I was told you were upset I'd not stayed at my relatives. I just didn't understand why it mattered to you. Now you tell me about the protective magic, so I can see that my leaving may have had some effect. I still can't see why this matters so much to you. I've asked around. I don't think any of my other house mates have spent nearly as much time with you as I have. I doubt you try to tell them where to go for the summer. Is it because I'm an orphan?"

"You're a very important boy, Harry."

"Why am I important? My mother did something to defeat Riddle when I was a baby and gave her life to see it done. But that was her and it was 12 years ago. Why am I so important to you?"

"I can't tell you that at this time. Perhaps when you are older …"

"And that's why I can't fully trust you. You just told me there's something important that you are withholding from me. You might tell me some day, but it might be important to me now. Trust is a two way street, as they say, sir."

"You've changed, Harry."

"Yes, I think I'm growing up. I hope I am at least. I need to be ready for the next monster or madman that wants to do me or my friends harm. I'm strong now. Better able to protect them. But those demons just showed me that I can still be taken out pretty easily. And you've let them be put here at Hogwarts. I don't know if you agreed to have them here or not, but they _are_ here and we're all in danger from them. We're in danger from Black too, but the monsters are here while we have no idea where the murderer is. I _have to_ change if I want us all to survive."

"Harry, it's the professors' job to protect the students, not yours."

"And your new guy did a bang up job of it on the train. But that's the first time since I came to Hogwarts that a professor has actually saved me when I've been in danger." Harry counted on his fingers for a moment. "One out of eight's not a great record, sir. I think I'll keep practicing."

The Headmaster looked defeated. "You're free to go. Curfew is in ten minutes."

Classes for the first week went as expected for the most part. Each professor introduced the goals and content for the year. Harry had chosen to take three electives, adding Ancient Runes to the choices he had agreed to take with Ron. He was still hoping to be able to permanently enchant items someday. Defense against the Dark Arts and Divination each had their difficulties. In the first Harry learned that the thing he most feared was a dementor. In the latter he was told he was doomed to certain death in the very near future. Professor McGonagall pointed out that the doom was far less than certain. It was Care of Magical Creatures that proved to be the most exciting. Hagrid was the teacher and chose to introduce the new students to hippogriffs. Harry managed to get Buckbeak to allow him to pet the beautiful creature.

"If you was smaller I'd suggest ridin' 'im. But I think 'e'd have as much trouble carryin' you as 'e would me, 'arry." Hagrid said with a grin. Harry returned the grin while stroking the hippogriff's feathered neck in the same way he knew Hedwig liked. Buckbeak leaned into the caress.

"Alrigh', who's next. Everyone pick an 'ipppogriff and introduce yerself. Remember to bow an' wait to be acknowledged." Hagrid wandered the paddock helping the shy 13 year olds approach the large animals. Harry kept an eye out for any of his classmates having trouble. There were a few who had to retreat from their chosen hippogriffs when the animals declined to bow back.

Harry was surprised to find Malfoy actually insulting Buckbeak as he approached the creature, not waiting to be give permission by the animal. Harry saw the hippogriff getting more agitated and raced towards the pair. Just as the winged hybrid reared to strike the annoying Slytherin, Harry interposed himself. He casually knocked Draco aside and caught Buckbeak's descending claw. Harry held the hippogriff up, forcing him back on his hind hooves, wings flailing and beak snapping. Hagrid appeared and pulled Draco away. Once the area was clear Harry released Buckbeak and bowed low in apology, never taking his eyes off the angry creature.

"That beast almost killed me," Draco whined loudly. "I'm going to tell my father about this."

"You shouldn' have insulted 'im like tha'," Hagrid countered. "I tol' you they was proud. Now, are you ready to try again?"

"You have to be joking. I'm not going anywhere near those murderous monsters. What were you thinking?"

"I think they're brilliant," Harry retorted while scratching Buckbeak's beak. Ron and Hermione agreed, though some of the other students seemed once again to be frightened of the beautiful animals. Hagrid was subdued for the rest of the lesson. Harry never knew if Mr. Malfoy had brought pressure to bear or if Dumbledore had pulled Hagrid aside for a word, but later lessons in the class were much less interesting as Hagrid stuck with smaller, safer creatures.

Hermione and Harry finally had their talk about Harry's summer. They were in the abandoned classroom Harry used for his secret training. The young wizard had decided to tell his best friend the whole story. "You met Spider-man, the King of Atlantis, and the Sorcerer Supreme? You are so lucky. What were they like? Doctor Strange must have the most amazing Library. King Namor has been around for ages. I wonder if he knows any Atlantean magic. And Spider-man is so brave. Did you see him without his mask?"

"Hermione, breathe. It was great being trained by Doctor Strange. I would try to teach you what the taught me but there are problems. He told me sorcery is considered dark magic in the wizarding world. It is too dangerous for me to teach you without an expert around to fix things if something goes wrong. We could open a breach to another realm and there are some really bad things in those realms."

"Okay... Let's not do that then. Did he teach you anything you can share?"

"I can try to help you learn occlumency. That's the magic that allows you to protect your mind from attack. There are wizards, mutants, and others that can read and even control minds. Occlumency helps you build defenses. I can't do it yet, but he started me on meditation. I can teach you that." The friends talked for hours. Hermione got particularly excited when Harry mentioned Spider-man's joke about Harry taking a super identity.

"Bastion is a very cool name. And I've not heard of it being used by anyone before. If there are no secrecy or underage magic laws in the U.S. you could really become a superhero."

"You really are a super fan girl aren't you?"

"I will admit a certain long-standing fascination with metahumans and their heroic deeds. I don't think that makes me a fan girl."

"Name the original Defenders."

"Doctor Strange, Namor, and the Hulk. The Silver Surfer joined soon after the team originally formed. Though calling them a team is really a misnomer. It was more like an occasional alliance to fight specific threats. Publicly little is known about the Defenders. They're not nearly so well known as the Fantastic Four or the Avengers. Even the X-men have gotten more coverage, though much of it has been negative due to the prejudice against mutants."

"Nope, not a fan girl at all."

"Harry!"

So Hermione joined Harry in some of his training. They offered to include Ron, but the increased work from the additional courses was already more studying that the red head wanted to do. "Mental, the both of you." was his helpful response.

Hermione was surprised at how far ahead Harry was in the Charms and Defense books. He was even a bit ahead of her in Runes. She worked hard to catch up. She even joined him in his physical training on occasion.

"My parents had me take karate and jujitsu classes when I was younger. They thought it would help me get more in touch with my physical being. It didn't last too long. But I did learn how to throw a punch." When she was in Harry's makeshift gym, she seemed to enjoy taking out her frustrations on the speed bag.

It was near the end of October when the Headmaster announced the first Hogsmeade weekend set for Halloween. Harry and friends were excited to go. But when Professor McGonagall asked for signed permission slips, Harry was not able to produce one. He was tempted to try forging his uncle's signature, but knew it was wrong. He complained to Doctor Strange during one of their occasional crystal globe chats. The Sorcerer suggested that the professors probably had some magical way to check the authenticity of the slips. Harry asked Professor McGonagall if she would sign his slip. "I'm sorry Mr. Potter but you will not be able to go to Hogsmeade. Even if you had a signed slip, it's likely that the Headmaster would refuse you permission as long as Sirius Black is on the loose. It's just too dangerous for you to be wandering around in the open like that."

"But if it is too dangerous for me, isn't it too dangerous for everyone?" Harry countered.

"Are you suggesting we cancel the weekend?"

"No!" Harry knew if they did that and word got out the whole school, including his best friends, would be out for his blood. "I just meant that if it's safe for the others, I should be fine."

"Black is not after the other students, Mr. Potter. He's after you. I'm sorry. The decision has been made." Ron and Hermione tried to cheer Harry up. They even offered to stay in the castle to keep Harry company. Harry, of course refused. Instead he decided he would use the time to try and convince Professor Lupin to teach him the spell he used to chase off the dementors on the Express. Unfortunately he was having trouble tracking the DADA professor down.

That night the students came back to the castle for the Halloween Feast, after which it was discovered that the portrait at the entrance to the Gryffindor dorms had been slashed open. Black had been spotted in the castle so everyone spent the night in the Great Hall.

 _Good thing I wasn't in Hogsmeade_ , Harry thought. _Safest place in the world my left buttock._ Ron seemed surprised that Harry was not interested in pursuing the murderer, but Harry was more concerned with keeping his friends safe.

Late the next month the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff Quidditch match was played during a severe, cold rainstorm. While Harry could no longer play, he had given his Nimbus to Ginny Weasley who was proving to be a good Seeker for the team. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were watching the match when Harry noticed a dark shape on the top row of seats silhouetted against the dark sky. "What's that?" He asked, pointing through the obscuring rain.

"It looks like a grim!" Ron shouted as he jumped to his feet. The crowd around them started to panic, looking for the feared portent. The temperature around them dropped precipitously and Harry heard his mother's cry echo in his head. He frantically looked around, trying to find the dementors he knew must be closing in.

He pushed to the edge of the box, looking down on the pitch. Hermione screamed and pointed to the sky. A flash of lightning illuminated a swarm of dementors, at least a hundred strong, floating above the pitch. They were closing on the stands. Harry tried to cast the patronus charm. He had been reading about it on his own. The horror of his worst memories prevented the needed concentration so his casting failed. As the swarm closed in, Harry dropped into darkness.

He woke in the hospital wing. "What happened?" he asked Hermione who has reading next to his bed.

"The professors drove the dementors away but several students were badly affected. You were the worst. You passed out again. Then you fell from the box. Luckily that didn't hurt you, even though you left an indention in the ground."

"What happened to the match?"

"Ginny caught the snitch."

Harry had to put up with teasing from Malfoy and looked forward to missing another Hogsmeade visit in mid-December. The Weasley twins decided to take pity on him and gave him a magical map that showed Hogwarts and everyone in her. On the day of the Hogsmeade visit, Harry used the map and his invisibility cloak to sneak out of the castle. In Hogsmeade he overheard Minister Fudge and a few professors talking about Black. Harry learned the killer's history and his connection to the Potters. _Now I have a reason to take this guy down,_ Harry thought.

Over the holidays Harry's brooding on Black was frequently disturbed by Ron and Hermione feuding over the troubled relationship between their pets. Harry did his best to stay out of that fight, which left his with a lot of time to practice the skills Doctor Strange and Wong had taught him. He hoped that he could build his occlumency enough to protect him from the dementors' attacks. Eventually he got Professor Lupin to agree to teach him the Patronus Charm.

While the Professor stressed the importance of the happy thought in conjuring the patronus. Harry realized that at its most basic the patronus was not a charm, but an invocation. The Latin invocation _Expecto Patronum!_ translated to 'looking for help from a patron'. Harry was not certain which patron's power was being invoked. He almost asked about it, but remembered that Doctor Strange had told him that invocations were frowned upon in the Wizarding World. Harry knew who his patron was.

So when he was practicing the spell on his own, he tried to connect to Cyttorak through the gem in his chest, like when he invoked the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. It seemed to work, but only when he cast through his wrist bands rather than his wand. When he did the mist that he conjured was the same deep crimson as the rest of the constructs of Cyttorak. Within weeks he produced his first corporeal patronus. It took the shape of a hulking humanoid with a smooth domed head. When he was practicing with Professor Lupin, he used the happy memory method and cast with his wand. He was eventually able to produce a silvery mist.

The Headmaster occasionally called Harry into his office and tried to worm the truth of where he had spent his summer out of him. Twice Harry was certain he felt the old wizard trying to sneak into his mind. Both times Harry was able to casually break eye contact while shoring up what few shields he had. When he mentioned these incidents to Doctor Strange the sorcerer admitted that Dumbledore was a known Legilimens. "I have been working on an amulet that will boost your mental shields, offering at least some protection. I had hoped to use it as a lure to get you back to New York next summer, but I think I should send it to you sooner. Between Albus and the dementors, your mind is at severe risk."

"That would be great. But how will you get it here?"

"I have some contacts with the goblins of Gringotts. I will work through them. Also our mutual masked acquaintance has a package he wants me to send you. I will send it all together. Though it may take some weeks. Be extra careful in the meantime. Dementors are almost custom made to exploit your vulnerabilities. It is possible that is actually the case as Cyttorak has many rivals in the other realms, some of who are easily capable of crafting such demonic pseudo-beings as weapons against Cyttorak's avatars. Cyttorak himself was said to have created a race of small elf-like creatures solely for the purpose of worshiping and serving him. Legend has it he grew bored with their obsequious, servile natures and banished them from his realm."

When the package finally arrived in a shrunken box delivered by an owl in Gringotts' livery, Harry hurried to his hideout, followed by Hermione. Inside they found a golden amulet the size of a galleon carved with runes and almost glowing with enchantment. It was on a thick chain. When Harry placed it around his neck the amulet rested halfway between the crimson gem and the base of his throat. It would be just hidden by his shirt collar. Harry felt the power of the amulet settle over his mind like a net. When he meditated while wearing it, he could see the power matrix in his head. He found he needed to take it off to effectively practice his own occlumency. While Harry was examining the amulet, Hermione had removed the other item in the box. It was a costume made of a tough synthetic material reinforced, or at least decorated, with metal plates. It was mostly dark gray with crimson and blue highlights. It even had a mask that left the wearers hair, and lower face uncovered.

"It's your Bastion costume. Try it on!" Hermione was bouncing like Ron waiting for a feast. Harry pretended to be reluctant, but donned the costume. It was a little small, as he had continued to grow since leaving New York. Harry charmed the outfit larger and used a simple rune matrix to make the enchantment last much longer. It was not permanent, but it would last several months. By which time Harry would likely need to enlarge it again. When he put it on Harry thought he looked like a slightly medieval-themed hero.

"It looks a little like the Wrecking Crew costumes, but much nicer," Hermione mused.

There was a short note with the outfit.

 _Now go out and go some good -S_

Smiling, Harry put the costume away, hiding it with his invisibility cloak. Knowing his friends in New York were thinking of him made him feel good. It also served as a reminder that there was a lot of good things outside the wizarding world. That he had other options out there if things got worse with Dumbledore or the dementors.

Harry used the globe to contact Doctor Strange and thank him for the amulet, and asked him to pass on his thanks for the costume to Spider-man. He decided to send another letter to the Dursleys asking for permission to be gone for the summer again. He asked if they wanted to know where he was. They sent him a short signed note.

 _To whom it may concern,_

 _Harry Potter has our permission to be away from our home for as long as he wants. It is alright if he never comes back._

 _Signed,_

 _His Guardians,_

 _Vernon & Petunia Dursley_

They never asked where he would be.

During the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match Harry and his friends were accosted by four black cloaked figures. Without thinking the young wizard whipped out his wand and cast the Patronus Charm. A massive silver stag burst from his wand and trampled the four figures, who turned out to be Draco, his bookends, and Marcus Flint. Harry was frustrated that the boys suffered no punishment from their 'prank' because Snape protected them and Dumbledore backed him up. He realized he was becoming more critical of the Hogwarts professors, of the Ministry of Magic, and the wizarding world as a whole. It was not that he disliked it all, more that he realized wizarding world seemed to lack basic rights to fair treatment and rule of law that he expected in the normal world.

After Harry first manifested his corporeal patronus, Professor Lupin started using a boggart to train Harry. The boggart took the form of a dementor, including its dreadful aura. Eventually Harry mastered producing his silvery stag on demand, even when facing a dementor at close range. In the privacy of an abandoned classroom he continued to practice his wandless invocations, hoping they might also affect the demons.

All of this training proved necessary at the end of the year. Scabbers had disappeared sometime in the spring. Ron had accused Crookshanks of having done away with the rat. Hermione who had been increasingly on edge due to the masses of schoolwork she was doing, had defended her favorite feline fiercely. Harry had not been able to use the map to look for the rat as Snape had confiscated it. The argument had raged for weeks, tearing the trio apart. Eventually Hagrid took it upon himself to play peacemaker. He called all three to his cabin one evening near the end of term. After berating them for having mixed up priorities. " … I gotta tell yeh, I thought you three'd value yer friends more'n cats or rats. Ah, well, people can be a bit stupid abou' their pets," said Hagrid wisely.

After the three friends had made up and were leaving Hagrid's hut, Hermione saw Scabbers hiding near some milk jugs. Ron rushed to catch him, but the rat escaped, running towards the forest. Ron gave chase, with Harry and Hermione right behind. Crookshanks joined in the chase, quickly outpacing the human pursuers.

As the red headed wizard was raced to catch the fleeing rodent, an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog appeared as if from nowhere and bit into Ron's leg. Harry recognized it as the grim he had seen at the Quidditch match. Hermione's pet quickly chased Ron's rat to the base of the Whomping Willow, where they both disappeared. The grim quickly dragged Ron after the two pets. Harry and Hermione followed. When the tree tried smashing them with its flailing limbs, Harry shielded Hermione. They made it to the base of the tree unscathed to find a dark tunnel opened at the base of the Willow's trunk.

The tunnel led to the Shrieking Shack where Harry found Ron in the company of Sirius Black. "You killed my parents!" Harry grabbed up a rotting chair from its place against the crooked wall and flung it at the murderer.

Black, using Ron's wand, banished the missile before it hit. "Wait, Harry. It's not what you think."

"Not what I think? I think I'm going to kill you." Harry rushed forward. Black pointed and cast silently. His spells hit Harry, but had no effect. The enraged young wizard reached his parent's betrayer and slammed him against the wall, knocking the stolen wand from his grasp. Hermione rushed to Ron, keeping her wand trained on Black in case Harry needed help. She was shocked to see Crookshanks start batting at Harry's leg, trying to squirm between the boy and the man.

"Harry, please don't kill him." Hermione called. "Not like this. You have him. Give him to the police. You told me you regretted killing Quirrell. Don't do it again."

Harry pulled the escaped convict forward then bashed him back into the wall. "But he already escaped from Azkaban once. If they put him back, he'll just escape again."

"No Harry…" Black wheezed, fighting for breath to speak, "I did it for you …"

"WHAT!" Harry roared. "You betrayed my parents, your best friend, for me!"

"Ahggg…" the man cried as Harry's fist squeezed.

"Harry!" cried a new voice. All three teens turned to see Professor Lupin standing at the door to the tunnel. "Please don't hurt him. He didn't betray your parents. It was that rat Pettigrew."

This lead to explanations, revelations, and confessions. Harry discovered why his silver patronus was a stag. Pettigrew turned out to be even more loathsome as a human than a rodent. Snape joined the party just as Wormtail made a break in animal form. The argument between the potions professor and the two marauders gave the rat sufficient cover to secure his escape. When Snape decided words were not enough and hexed Sirius, Harry interposed himself and absorbed the attack. The teen returned a brace of disarming charms overcharged with anxiety and knocked the professor senseless. Leaving Snape lying there they all raced after the rat.

Once into the light of the full moon, Remus began his lycanthropic transformation. "Run!" the man screamed as he changed into a ravening beast. Harry stepped forward and gently embraced the half-wolf in a tight hug. The werewolf struggled but was unable to break free. All of its attempts to rip or rend with claw or fang were completely ineffective against the unstoppable avatar.

"Sirius, change and get the rat. Don't kill him. We need him alive." Harry commanded.

"But Mooney . . ."

"I've got him. He can't hurt me and I won't let him hurt anyone else. Go get the rat!" The man shifted into the grim and started after his prey. "Ron, Hermione, get back into the Shack. You should be safe in there if he should break free somehow."

"Harry …" Hermione started to protest. She was cut off, when Snape slammed through the door. He stopped short when he saw Harry holding the werewolf. They stared at each other.

"Potter …"

"He's not going to hurt anyone this time, Professor."

"You attacked me, Potter. I will see you expelled." Harry ignored the man. He knew from what he had just heard that Snape's hatred for the Marauders was at least partly justified, but that did not excuse his despicable behavior towards kids that had nothing to do with the events of decades ago.

"No you won't because I've got the rat!" A panting Sirius held the stunned form of Scabbers by the tail. "I have proof that I'm innocent. Harry was just defending his innocent godfather. Hah!"

"You innocent? You may not have killed this scum, but you're by no means innocent, cur."

"Harry!" Hermione called. She was pointing up and away from the castle. They all felt the dread chill of the dementors descended. Ice coated the grass. Hermione started to moan. Ron started to shiver and quake. Snape froze, his face a silent rictus of sorrow and pain. Mooney howled as hundreds of black cloaked figures neared. Sirius gave one weak cry then collapsed. Harry heard all his worst nightmares scream in his head.

He spun and tossed the werewolf into a copse of trees forty yards away. From the reading Snape had the DADA class do on werewolves, Harry knew that while the fall might damage Mooney, it would not kill him. Harry needed his hands free.

The young wizard would not let these demons have his friends, his chosen family. He tried to cast with is wand, but the presence of so many of the fiends stripped all his happiness, leaving only a core of determination and fury. Harry dropped his wand, pointed both fists at the horde, and called on his true patron.

 _I call the Scarlet Specter of Cyttorak_

 _I offer fear and darkness for your meat_

 _I call on your strength and power_

 _EXPECTO PATRONUM!_

Crimson tendrils launched from both of Harry's wrist bands. They wove together to form his humaniod patronus, the Scarlet Specter of Cyttorak which slammed into the swarm of dementors. Wherever the hulking form touched the creatures were absorbed into the glowing patronus. The wraiths stopped their advance and began to retreat. The swarm broke apart as the power of Cyttorak consumed their essence.

Once the dementors were gone, the patronus returned. It approached the huddled group menacingly. Harry thought it was still hungry. "Be gone, with my thanks." The spirit, for Harry was sure it was more than a normal patronus, resisted Harry's will. Blanking his mind of all distractions Harry forced his dominance on the projection. "Your task is done. Return to your master. Go!"

With a tug at his chest, Harry felt the crimson construct unravel. He realized that he was exhausted. He had not felt any fatigue in more than a year, but now he barely kept on his feet. He looked at his friends. Hermione was smiling at him timidly. Ron was staring with an open mouth. Sirius was stirring, but still held onto the rat. Snape glared, sneered, and stormed away towards the castle. In the distance Harry could see Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall coming towards them with several scarlet-robed figures in tow.


	9. Chapter 9

**Unstoppable!**

 **Chapter Nine**

"Harry! Get your head out!" Greg Halpern yelled. He was the crew chief for the Damage Control crew with whom Harry was working. They had a job repairing damage done to the Brooklyn Bridge by the Avengers in a battle with the Gatherers, or some such. Harry was still out of his depth when it came to American Supers. He had seen a few and met fewer since coming back to the U.S. after the end of his Third Year. He had been thinking about the drama at the end of the term at Hogwarts when Mr. Halpern caught him woolgathering. Harry put aside his ruminations and continued moving materials, in this case steel girders each weighting around a ton, into places more quickly than the cranes could.

During his break the young wizard's thoughts returned to Hogwarts and the hullabaloo sparked by Pettigrew's capture. The wizards in red robes accompanying the professors that night were aurors, magical policemen basically. They were less than happy to see Black.

"Halt, in the name of the Ministry," called a tough-looking wizard with very short wiry grey hair. He was in the center of the group. All of the aurors had their wands out trained on the escaped prisoner. Harry pushed Sirius behind him and summoned his wand to his hand.

"Wait!" the young wizard called out. "There is new evidence. Pettigrew is alive!"

"Get out of the way," ordered Professor McGonagall. "You can't believe anything he says."

"Give me the rat. They won't shoot me," Harry whispered to Sirius. The escapee handed over the stirring rodent. Harry made sure his grip was tight, but not damaging. He held his left hand up before him. He was ready to cast a shield with his wand if the wizards who had started to spread out, tried to fire around him to get to Sirius. Hermione, holding Ron up, held her wand tightly. She pointed it towards the bush where Harry had tossed the werewolf. "This is Pettigrew in animagus form. Cast the spell to force him to become human again and you'll see. Black didn't betray my parents or kill all those people. Pettigrew did!"

"You've got to be kidding me," muttered the short-haired auror loudly. "Black must have confounded them."

"Won't take but a minute to check," commented a large, bald black wizard standing to the other man's left.

"Waste of time … E5!" When the tough-looking wizard, who was apparently the team leader, called out three of the other wizards each took a step further from the speaker and fired a red spell at Harry.

The oversized teen cast a quick " _Protego!"_ The shield snapped into place in time to intercept the three spells.

"Stop!" The Headmaster waved his wand and a barrier appeared between the two groups. "You will not harm my students. Harry …" Whatever Dumbledore was going to say was interrupted by the howl of the werewolf coming from the copse of trees.

"I suggest we take this indoors. There is a werewolf nearby and I can't hold it and fight you at the same time." Harry looked at the black auror. "Please cast the spell quickly."

The bald wizard looked at his leader who nodded with an unhappy scowl set on his face. Dumbledore lowered his barrier and a blue light sprang from the large man's wand. It hit Harry's hand and nothing happened. "See…"

"Wait," Harry set the false rat on the ground and stepped on his tail before letting go. Wormtail tried to run, but could not free himself. He started gnawing on his tail trying to get loose. "Now try it."

"Shack, it's a waste …" Shack cast again before the other could finish. This time the blue light hit the rat directly and it was like watching a speeded-up film of a growing tree. A head was shooting upwards from the ground. Limbs were sprouting. The next moment, a man was standing where Scabbers had been, cringing and wringing his hands.

"Blood hell," cursed the lead auror. "Is that …"

"Peter Pettigrew? Indeed it is, looking somewhat worse for the wear, I must say." Dumbledore's voice carried a strange note, but Harry could not make out what it was – surprise, disbelief, disappointment, humor? Another howl and the sound of thrashing from the trees got people moving. Harry cast a Full Body-Bind Curse on Pettigrew and carried him under his left arm. He stayed between the aurors and Black, but made sure Hermione and Ron were in front of him, lest the werewolf make a reappearance.

Back in the castle it had taken some quick explaining to avoid Sirius' immediate arrest. John Dawlish, the leader of the aurors, seemed particularly put out that the large, muscular wizard who was protecting Black turned out to be the Boy-Who-Lived. More than once Harry heard him whispering something about a political bludger to one of the other aurors.

Once the Headmaster had called in a woman named Bones who was Dawlish's boss or something, things started happening. Unfortunately the three children were asked to leave the rest to the adults. Harry asked the Headmaster for a private word. They went into the corner of the room, a meeting room off the Great Hall of some sort, and Harry said quietly, "Here's an opportunity for you to build some trust, sir. It seems obvious that Sirius is innocent. He never even got a trial if I understand right, so he has never been convicted. Can you see that this comes out right? Or should I stay to protect him myself?"

"I can promise you that I will see that both men get justice, Harry. I failed to make sure last time. I won't make that mistake again."

Harry looked at Sirius and he nodded. Harry realized that Sirius knew Dumbledore and McGonagall better than he knew Harry. So the young wizard gathered his two friends and left the room. After settling Ron in the Hospital Wing to get his leg looked at, leaving Hermione at the red head's side, Harry had gone to his private practice room and used the globe to tell Doctor Strange everything that had happened.

"How do you feel about the idea that Mr. Black is your godfather? Do you want to stay with him this summer?" The Doctor's voice was carefully neutral. He asked without hinting what he thought the answer should be.

"I don't really know him." He paused then shook his head. "If things had been different and I had still been stuck at the Dursleys I would be jumping all over the opportunity to stay with someone, really anyone, other than my aunt and uncle. I'd have wanted to stay with him even though I know nothing about him."

"And now?"

"Now I don't want to give up my independence. I know I'm still a kid, but I don't really feel like much of one. I've lived on my own for a while. Even here at Hogwarts I feel older than my classmates, Hermione excepted." Harry ran a hand through his messy hair. "I guess I would like to get to know him better. But not this summer, unless he wants to meet me in New York."

"So you still want to come here?"

"Yeah, if that's ok."

"I should warn you there is a good chance I'll be called away for several weeks, or even months. You're welcome to stay in the Sanctum and study, but I may not be here. Does that make a difference?"

"I'd rather be studying with you, but no it doesn't really make a difference. Even if you're going to be gone I can contact Ms. Chapel. She said she has work for me. If you're going to be there, I can study part time and work part time. If you're going to be gone, I can work full time and study what I can on my own. All I ask is that you help me get to the U.S. I think I'm too heavy to fly commercial these days."

"Yes. I'll open a portal on the 22nd. I'll open it to Number 73 Petersham Place, London at 7pm Greenwich Time. Do you need to write that down?"

"No, I have it." Part of his occlumency lessons had been working on his recall. Harry knew this was a bit of a test for him. _He may be a great sorcerer and hero, but he's even better as a teacher_.

And so it went. Professor Dumbledore had encouraged Harry to return to the Dursleys for the summer, though again he would not give a good reason. Harry gave a non-committal answer, not feeling that arguing was worth it, but not wanting to flat out lie. On the Express Ron was excited that his father had gotten tickets to the World Cup and invited Harry and Hermione to join them at the end of the summer. It sounded like fun so Harry said he would try to arrange to be free at that time. Hermione mentioned that her family was going to be traveling but also agreed to try and join them. When they reached London Harry was accosted by reporters as he got off the train.

"Harry, is it true that you caught Pettigrew?"

"Harry, did the werewolf Lupin try to kill you?"

"Harry, is it true you used dark rituals to get so big and strong?"

"Harry is it true you are actually Hagrid's love child?"

"Harry…"

"Harry …" Flashes exploded in his face. Ignoring the questions, he slowly pushed through until he reached the portal to the real world side of the station. As he went through he slipped on his cloak. It barely covered him and his trunk. Hermione had agreed to take Hedwig for the summer so she had the owl's cage. Harry carefully made his way to the underground station.

Once inside a men's toilet he took off the cloak and shoved it back into a bottomless belt pouch he had mail-ordered near the end of the year. It looked like a small grey leather bum-bag or large mobile holster. He packed his wand into his trunk and took out his Bulldog branded hoody. He closed his trunk and pushed a bit of magic into a rune cluster he had carved on the lid. The trunk shrank to the size of a pencil case which he also put in his pouch. He took out a Damage Control baseball cap and some sunglasses. It was a very 'muggle' Henry Bond that walked out of the loo and onto the Piccadilly Line. Thirty minutes later he was having a doner kebab at a nice little kebab shop near the Natural History Museum. He made the meeting with Doctor Strange with minutes to spare.

Just as the sorcerer had warned he was called away from the dimension a few days after Harry had arrived. The young wizard contacted Ms. Chapel and was immediately hired for the Brooklyn Bridge repair job. Since then, he had enjoyed being free, single, and super-powered in New York City. Even though he was only, or more accurately almost, fourteen his ID said he was almost twenty. He was not old enough to drink, but that was ok. Alcohol did nothing to him and he did not enjoy the taste. He spent most evening studying at the Sanctum Sanctorum and sparring or meditating with Wong when he got tired of reading. He would agree to go out with some of the Damage Control crew when invited. He got very good at silent, wandless casting of unbreakable charms. He cast them on almost everything he touched or especially sat on, which saved a lot of barstools and restraint booths. He always carried his bottomless pouch with his cloak and costume. He had practiced changing into it with a Switching Spell until he had that down wordlessly.

"Dude. Break's over. Come on. Back to toting and carrying," Kermit Hazelton said, slapping Harry's shoulder to get his attention. Kermit was one of the younger guys on the crew. He was a welder who had promised to show Harry the basics of that art the next time they both had a day off. Harry was looking forward to it. He had enjoyed dabbling in several of the construction crafts. It was satisfying making things happen without magic too. And construction sites had some great toys.

As they walked back to the Manhattan side of the bridge a helicopter flew low overhead. They followed its path and Kermit pointed down river. "Look, man. That's a pretty big fire." Harry saw that one of the buildings on Pearl Street was burning. It was one of the medium height buildings, maybe 20 story or so. The young wizard had no idea what it might house. It looked to be about six blocks away. The crew started gathering. They could see a number of fire trucks but the fire seemed to be concentrated on the middle to top floors.

"Let's get over there and see if we can help," Halpern said. "Take the trucks and gear. David, call Chapel and let her know what is going on."

As the crew chief organized the crew, Harry slipped away. He ducked behind one of the trucks and switched his clothes for his costume. He was nervous as this was the first time he had done anything other than train in costume, but he did not want to have to hold back and he did not want people to associate him with Damage Control. Also people seemed to expect to be rescued by costumed heroes. So he was less likely to make people afraid, _I hope_.

Harry vaulted over the side of the bridge and dropped to an empty space forty feet below. He started sprinting towards the burning building. He was not built for speed, but he could maintain his fastest pace indefinitely. He wished he could still use a broom. For all his spells and power he had no useful means of transportation. _I wonder if Doctor Strange can teach me to apparate._

It took about five minutes for him to run the distance to the fire. There were six tanker truck crews already working to fight the blaze. From what Harry could see it looked like the fire was about two thirds up the building and was burning on at least two floors. It was mostly in the North West corner of the building, where there was a large balcony of some sort on what Harry quickly counted was the fifteenth floor. Fire fighters were already making their way into the building and a growing crowd was making its way out. Harry, in his costume, ran to a man that looked to be coordinating the efforts of the other firemen. "Sir, I can help. I'm fireproof and can make other people fire resistant. I am also super strong so I can break down doors and walls if needed."

The fire man looked Harry up and down. "I don't recognize you. You new?"

"Yes sir."

"Fireproof ain't enough. This is a chemical fire and the storeroom it started in's leaking lots of toxic stuff."

"I'm immune to toxins and corrosives also. I may be able to contain the chemicals, maybe even get rid of them. What do you want me to do?"

"Can you fly?"

"No but I can levitate other people and I can jump from the roof of the building and not get hurt."

"Ok, take the stairs to the 15th floor. Try to do something to contain the chemicals. If that doesn't work, help with search and rescue. Take this radio. Use channel 6. Got it?"

"Yes sir."

"And kid, don't get killed."

Harry just nodded as he ran into the building. He followed the fire fighters to the stairs. They were packed with fire fighters trying to go up and people trying to come down. He ran to the lifts. They were all in the basement and were not responding to the call button. Harry forced the doors open and saw the cables running down the car below and up towards the roof. He grabbed the cable and started to pull himself up, hand over hand. With his tremendous arm strength he was able to ascend very quickly. When we reached the fifteenth floor he forced the door open.

Flames flicked into the lift shaft. He swung himself into the corridor. The smoke was thick, obscuring his vision. It smelled of harsh chemicals. He looked for signs on the walls for a clue where the chemicals might be housed. He also listened for any signs of people needing help. He headed towards the stairwell the fire fighters were using and found a group of them deck out in heavy coats, air tanks, and gas masks. They were carrying hoses and trying to hook them onto the water pipes. Several were using extinguishers to try to keep the flames away from the stairs and utility closet. Harry cast two shield charms to block the corridor where the fire was advancing. This freed up the men with the extinguishers. The firefighters turned to find the origin of the shields.

"Who the hell are you?" one man asked. Harry could not see their features behind their gear.

"I'm Bastion, a friend of Spider-man. I'm here to help. I can cool these flames, but not put them out. I can also try to clean up the chemicals if you let me know where they are."

"Cool the flames?"

"Like this," Harry cast the Flame-Freezing Charm on all they nearby flames. The temperature in the area dropped. "These flames can't burn anyone or anything but it's not permanent."

They goggled at him for a moment while he cast the Impervius Charm on their masks. "That should make it easier to see in the smoke. Now where's the chemical store?"

"Through there, turn right, third door down on the right, if it is still standing. Should be three store rooms in a row. That is likely where the fire started."

"Let me see what I can do." Harry saluted and ran down the hall the man indicated. The fire was blazing all around and many of the interior walls had collapsed or burned through. The floor was unstable as it was burned through in several places, as was the ceiling. Harry saw the store room full of plastic barrels of liquids. The barrels were melting and the chemicals were spilling out. Where they hit the floor they were either burning into noxious clouds or eating through the floor or whatever they touched. When two pools or clouds combined they interacted to produce more clouds and fumes.

Harry transfiguring the floors and ceilings into lead sheets, which he then spelled to be unbreakable. He then cast Repairing Charms on the barrels. Finally he started shrinking everything he could. He used a transfigured fan to try to blow the fumes into a large airtight container, which he then sealed, shrank, and made unbreakable. He was not able to get everything but he managed to contain a significant part of the chemicals. He found a window and saw that the Damage Control crew had joined the fire fighters and other responders. He saw a HazMat truck parked with the DC crew. He took the shrunken containers and leapt from the window. He crashed into the ground near the truck.

"Kid, is that you?" Halpern asked.

"Call me Bastion," Harry replied with a wink, then turned to the Hazmat team. "These are most of the chemicals from the store rooms up there. I've shrunk them, but that will wear off in about two hours, maybe a bit less. Get them to where ever they need to go before then."

"What sort of chemicals?" The woman asked.

"No idea. It was all that I could find up there. Some of it is pretty mixed together. So…"

"Great." She directed Harry where to put the stuff. Afterwards Harry went back into the building and started carrying hoses and tanks, most of which he shrank and put in his belt pouch. He went back up the lift shaft and delivered the gear to the crews fighting the fire. He then joined in the search and rescue efforts. He was able to move rubble to free up people. He could levitate people out of the windows to fire fighters waiting on long ladders. And he was able to cast basic Healing Spells to deal with simple burns and breaks.

The young wizard was at it for three hours, even helping as much as he could with clean up after the fire. When he finally rejoined the lead fire fighter he saw that Halpern was part of the group surrounding the older man. When Harry came up they all stopped talking and looked at him. "Not bad kid. You ain't Iron Man, but you were a big help. What do you call yourself?"

"Bastion," answered Spider-man as he swung from a lamp post. "He's called Bastion."

"Spider-man," Harry smiled and shook his hand.

"Could've used your help too, web head," gripped the fire captain, or whatever his rank was.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was fighting the Molten Man. I think he may have started this blaze accidentally. Then he headed towards the Roxxon refinery by the river. That would have been really messy."

"Ok… I can see that."

"Besides with my man Bastion here, I'm sure you were in good hands." The wall-crawler whipped out a web line and was gone before Harry could complain or deny his ridiculous comment. The others were all looking at him again.

"Um … Gotta go too." Harry started running and as soon as he was around a truck from the group, pulled out his cloak and disappeared. He moved as quietly as he could until he was far enough away to switch back to his street clothes. After that he headed for the subway to go back to the Sanctum.

As he rode the underground he thought about his first time in costume. He was never in any danger. He decided he needed to study more magic that would be useful in such situations. He needed some sort of magical travel, perhaps apparition or portkeys. Both the Water Jet and Bubble Head Charms would have been terribly helpful. More healing would also have helped. By the time he got to Greenwich he had a new curriculum to study.

This study of new magic would be on top of the mundane education he had decided to undertake. He realized he was more comfortable in the normal world than the wizarding one so he needed to continue his mundane education in order to find work and to fully function as a normal. Even Doctor Strange had a full non-magical education. He had been a medical doctor before he ever started studying magic. Harry was reading from GED prep course materials. While the American secondary curriculum was somewhat different from the British one, the basics were the same. Harry had determined that he would find similar study materials in London and share them with Hermione during the school term. Perhaps they could even attract others who were interested in continuing their real world education.

The next day Greg Halpern pulled Harry aside before the work day started. "You gonna be a super now?"

"You knew I had powers."

"Yeah but there's a difference between having powers and running around in tights. If you start fighting bad guys they might follow you to the job site and mess up our work."

"That's why I was wearing a mask. I want a private life too. And I don't want my friends hurt."

Halpern examined Harry silently for a moment before adding, "You done good yesterday. Just keep your hobby separate from the job. Damage Control doesn't allow its powered crew members or contractors to wear costumes on job sites. They attract trouble. You good with that?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Ms. Chapel says congrats." And that was that. No one else mentioned the fire or Harry's involvement.

During the evening Harry would occasionally put on his costume and go out to find people to help, but he had no luck. He had no way of finding trouble, no super senses or police scanner, and it was difficult for him to get around. If he was on street level he attracted too much attention. People either wanted to talk with him or run from him. Some of the tourist even wanted to take a picture with him. He tried lurking on roof tops, but he could not see what was happening at street level very well and while he could leap from roof top to roof top if they were close together he sometimes damaged the spot where he landed. Again he wished he could still ride his broom. After a week of this he decided to just keep his costume with him and use it if the opportunity arose.

It was late July when Harry next wore his costume. He was out in Soho having dinner after work with Kermit and some of the other crew when an explosion rocked the windows of the café. Like most of the customers, Harry and his companions went outside to see what was happening. In the distance they could see light beams lancing into the sky and glimpses of people flying. It looked like a fight. Harry turned to Kermit, "I have to go. Please make my excuses." He ducked into an alley and switched into his costume. He ran around the building and towards the battle. It only took him a few minutes, but by the time he got there the fight was over.

There in Freeman Plaza, among numerous smashed or overturned cars, were three costumed people standing over what looked to be the remains of several robots. Harry recognized a young man in a blue and gold outfit with a full helmet. His name was Nova. Harry had payed attention to him in the news because he could fly in space. The idea fascinated Harry. There was another young man, with blond hair in a blue and yellow costume covered in circles. Harry did not know him. Finally was a pretty blond woman in a green one-piece swimsuit with little wings on her ankles. Harry wondered if she was related to Namor, as he had the same sort of wings. They all turned to Harry as he got closer and seemed to shift into combat mode.

"Who are you?" Nova demanded. His gloves seemed to glow slightly.

"I'm Bastion. I'm here to help."

"Never heard of him," the blonde guy said.

"I know Spider-man and Namor if that makes a difference," Harry tried.

"You know my cousin?" the winged woman asked.

"He helped train me last year." Harry was standing still and holding his hand out to his side.

"I may have heard him mention something about training a surface dweller last year." Nova was reassured enough that he relaxed his stance.

"Ok, but we're pretty much done here. Mostly just clean up now. The Sphinx, an old enemy of mine, sent these battlebots. I think he got them from the future somewhen. We'll take them back to our tech guy to see what he can figure anything out from them."

"I can at least help with that." Harry transfigured some debris into a large box. He used the Packing Charm to cause all the robot parts to fly into the created case. Speedball, as the blond guy introduced himself, thanked Harry and gave him a card for contacting the New Warriors. After the woman, Namorita, lifted the box and Nova grabbed Speedball the three flew away. _Missed it by_ that _much,_ Harry joked.

On Harry's birthday, he returned to the Sanctum after a small celebration with some of his friends form Damage Control, including Ms. Chapel and Ms. Bowman, to find a message from Spider-man. The wall-crawler needed Bastion's help.


	10. Chapter 10

**Unstoppable!**

 **Chapter Ten**

"Bastion, thanks for coming," Spider-man said. They were on the roof of the building where they had first met. Harry had to use a trick with levitation he had been practicing. He cast the charm on a steel rod and lifted it into the air. As long as he hung on to the rod, he would float with it. It was slow and it took a fair bit of power. He figured that if Ron could levitate a hundred pound troll's club at age eleven, Harry could lift his own weight now. Luckily, he did not tire, even when constantly casting. He was able to levitate himself up to the roof. It was not flying, but it was better than nothing. He started keeping the rod in his bottomless pouch.

"You said you needed my help?"

"I've got a magical problem and Doc is AWOL. I know of a few other magical folk, but I think this may be up your alley."

"What is it?"

"There's this witch, Calypso. She was the girlfriend of an old enemy of mine. He died and she blames me. She's tried to kill me before. This time she has gathered three really bad guys and they've kidnapped the publisher of the Daily Bugle. They say that if I don't fight them, to the death, in Times Square tomorrow at noon, they'll kill him on live TV. Now I am not a big fan of J. Jonah. And I am really not a fan of dying. So I need to do something about this."

"How can I help?"

"She is calling them the Fatal Four, which really has to be chapping Ben Grimm's rocky butt. Her three bad guys are Rhino – Hulk class strongman with the brains of a can of split pea soup … Demogoblin – demonic version of my old pal the Hobgoblin … and Vermin – nasty wererat with the manners of a rabid badger. I can take any one or probably two of these guys pretty easily. But all of them, with Calypso casting her whammy at the same time, is more than I want to risk. I want you to either stop her magic, and maybe Demogoblin's. Or you can try to go head to head with Rhino and/or Vermin. Rhino may be stronger than you, and Vermin is a nasty fast fighter, though I am not sure he can actually damage you."

Harry and Spider-man took some time to strategize. Harry mentioned some of his magical abilities of which Spider-man was unaware. "Hitting them with a spell when they see it coming is going to be difficult. I know you have good reflexes, but two of these guys have super speed." The web-slinger even swung Harry over to a roof overlooking Times Square so they could get a better lay of the land. The swinging session was more exciting than the mine carts in Gringotts. "You get any heavier and you're gonna snap my web. So stop growing, kid."

As they were getting ready to split up at the end of the evening, Spider-man gave Harry a radio. "Use this to tell me when you're in positon. You'll need to be there by 11:30 at the latest. If something goes wrong, let me know and I'll wing it. If that happens, just jump in where you can. If you can get Jameson out of there, that should be your top priority. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Nervous?"

"A bit. I've been in a lot of fights but this is the first time I've ever planned to deliberately start a battle. It takes some getting used to."

"We are not starting this. They did when they took Jameson. Our job's to protect people, and if we can, to catch bad guys. I'd be more than happy if no one throws a punch tomorrow, as long as innocents stay safe."

"Right," Harry agreed. It was still unsettling. _I guess this is part of the whole costume thing._

Harry let his boss know he would not be at work the next morning. He left word with Wong for Doctor Strange as to what he was doing, in case anything went wrong. With that, he took the subway to Times Square. He got there at 9am and settled in to a local café to have a nice cup of tea and wait for the clock to tick by. At 10:30 police started to clear the area, blocking off the streets and closing the subway station. Harry slipped into a secluded spot behind a dumpster and threw on his invisibility cloak. He switched in to his costume and made his way to the location he and Spider-man had agreed he would hide, on top of the TKTS ticket booth, partially hidden by the white and red banners. It gave him a somewhat elevated view, yet allowed him to be close to the Father Duffy statue. Spider-man thought the symbolism of that statue would be too much for a religiously fixated madwoman like Calypso to pass up. Harry radioed two clicks followed by two more to let his partner know he was in place.

It turned out Spider-man was right. Just before noon, a portal opened just in front of the statue. Five figures came out. Calypso was a beautiful dark Afro-Caribbean woman wearing wisps of leather, fur, and silk that emphasized rather than concealed her figure. She carried a bag over one shoulder and fetish in her hand. She was followed by Rhino, a huge man in a grey rhino suit, complete with twin horns on his forehead. An older man in trousers and a waistcoat came next. His eyes seemed blank and he shambled rather than walked. Harry recognized him as J. Jonah Jameson, the publisher and Spider-man's harshest public critic. The newspaperman was followed by a flaming demon, crouched on a flying platform, also made of flames - Demogoblin. Harry could feel the heat from yards away, which was odd as he did not feel the heat of the burning building he had been in the month before. Hellfire the wall-crawler had called it. Harry had no idea how much damage it could do him. Vermin was the last out of the portal. He was a dirty creature that looked like a cross between Professor Lupin in his werewolf form and Peter Pettigrew in his human(ish) form – a hairy humanoid in dirty green trousers.

"Bind him to the cross," the dark witch ordered, pulling a long chain out of her bag. Rhino pulled the statue off its pedestal, tossing it across the street. Harry winced at the wanton destruction. Jameson climbed onto the stone plinth on his own then Vermin twined the chain around the older man as he stood passively against the Celtic cross.

Police surrounded the square and started closing in once the bad guys made their appearance. Demogoblin took a quick turn around the square, casting fire that burned on the concrete, defining an arena for the upcoming battle. The police stopped at the line of fire and started yelling on their bull horns. Calypso, standing on the stone platform in front of the cross like it was a stage, rattled her fetish in all four directions and silence descended on the square. "Cease your prattling. I'm not here for you. I'm here for the cowardly spider. Come out little insect. Prepare to be crushed by the Fatal Four."

Harry shook his invisible head. _Who writes their lines?_

With a _**Thwip**_ a strand of webbing shot overhead, attaching to a building, and Spider-man swung in the square. "You know, of course, that spiders aren't insects. More bad guys make that mistake than almost any other. I blame it on the rotten bad guy training schools you all go to."

"You came!" Demogoblin cried. "I never thought you'd be so stupid. We are gonna roast you alive!"

"Tear you apart!"

"Smash you flat!"

"Consume your very soul!" Calypso finished. Zombie Jameson had nothing to add.

"Ooohhh … scary!" the wall-crawler quipped. "So I'm here. Why don't you let Bugle Boy toddle of to the old editor's home and we can work this out like the reasonable … beings? ... I know we all are?"

"No. We're going to kill him in front of all these people, just to show the world that you can't stop us." Calypso taunted.

"But we're gonna kill you first." Vermin sneered.

"And it's gonna be a fair fight. We're not gonna make you lie down and take it. We want you to try and stop us." Rhino added. Harry thought he might be reminding the others of that.

"If you want the old man, all you have to do is stop all four of us in the next five minutes." The venom in the flying fiend's voice was palpable. "Tick tock Spidey. You wanna talk or you wanna fight. Tick Tock!" Demogoblin tossed a spread of three flaming pumpkin grenades, bracketing Spider-man. The fight was on.

Spidey dodged in the only open direction, flipping away from the explosions. Vermin had anticipated this and pounced on him, claws out to rend flesh. Almost impossibly the webbed wonder twisted to avoid the blow, knocking the were-rodent back in the process.

Rhino lined up for a charge. Spider-man dodged at the last second, letting the pernicious pachyderm slam in the platform on which Calypso was standing. The stone cracked and the witch was thrown from her feet. _Looks like my cue_ , Harry thought.

While Spider-man kept the Feckless Four busy Harry banished his cloak into his pouch and jumped to the back of the cross. He enlarged the chains so they fell off rather than risk injuring Jameson while using his strength to snap them. The newspaperman started attacking Harry. A quick " _Petrificus_ _Totalus!"_ stopped him. Harry pulled the paralyzed publisher away from the platform.

Calypso cast a coral colored spell which hit Harry. The young wizard felt the witch's mental tendrils trying to crack the shields provided by Doctor Strange's amulet. Harry pushed to get her out of his head. He could feel her break through the amulets protection. _Come, my pretty. Listen to my voice._ Calypso laid her delicate hand on his chest. _Give me the old man. This is not your fight. Just walk away._ Harry thought that sounded reasonable. This wasn't his fight. He didn't need to be here. He started to step away from Jameson. Then he heard another voice in his head. It sounded a bit like his bushy haired best friend. _What are you thinking? This_ is _your fight because you chose to stand with your friend. You can't let him down like this. Now wake up!_

Harry snapped out of Calypso's control and lashed out with a quick Stunning Spell. She batted it out of the way with the fetish in her hand. "No, you can't take me so easily boy. I know your magic. Latin charms and hexes are no match for my power."

She hefted her fetish and cast a purple spell at Harry. He cast a quick " _Protego!"_ blocking it. She followed with three more spells. Harry's shield held through two then shattered. The sickly yellow spell splashed acid against his chest, eating away at his costume but leaving his skin untouched. Harry stepped towards her and she produced a crystalline dagger. It glinted red in the noon sun. Harry cast a Disarming Charm which caught her hand, sending the dagger flying towards him and her summersaulting back.

Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Demogoblin flying towards Jameson, who lay paralyzed on the ground. Harry stepped between them and cast a shield. "Get the old man!" the demon cried and ripped off a burst of hellfire which shattered the shield and washed against Harry. It hurt, a lot. Harry reached out and grabbed the chain he had enlarged earlier. He whipped it towards the flying fiend, catching him as he moved past, sending him crashing into the ticket booth.

Vermin screeched, "Kill them to hurt the spider." The ratman sprang for the publisher, but webs snagged him out of the air and pulled him away. Harry saw Rhino charging towards the paralyzed man. The young wizard grabbed Jameson and, knowing a simple Shield Charm had no chance against the charging powerhouse, called forth the Scarlet Shield of Cyttorak. The more powerful shield stopped the Rhino, but shattered in the process.

Harry saw Calypso recovering and Demogoblin rising out of the ruin of the ticket office. He invoked another ruby shield and hunkered down with Jameson, trying to protect the publisher. Exploding pumpkins and multicolored spells crashed against the barrier. Rhino and Vermin pounded on it. It was holding, but barely. Spider-man took the opportunity to go on the offensive. He cocooned Calypso and knocked Demogoblin off his flyer. This caught the other villains' attention and they all turned to attack the web-singer. Harry tried to carry Jameson away, but he could not get him past the wall of flames. He was not willing to assume that a Flame Freezing Charm would work against Hellfire.

Having just freed the witch, Vermin bounded across the square towards Harry. The wizard snapped off a lighting quick Tripping Jinx, the fastest spell he knew. It caught the rodent in midstride causing him to stumble. The nimble creature turned his fall into a roll across the concrete. Harry saw Rhino coming and tried the same spell. It washed across the grey skin with no effect. Harry dodged out of the way of the Rhino's charge. "Spidey, this isn't working. It's a stalemate as long as we have to protect Jameson."

Spider-man dodged a fireball and a flying snake. "I can get him out of here if you can tie up Demogoblin for a few seconds."

"Right, swap." Harry threw the paralyzed fellow to Spider-man who caught him while in mid-swing. As the web-slinger tried to get away, the wizard grabbed the chain again and swung it at the demon as it reformed its flying sled. Harry managed to entangle the Demogoblin, who proved much stronger than anticipated. He tried to wrench free from Harry's grasp. The chain snapped.

The sudden release of tension caused Harry to stumble off balance. That is when Rhino caught him with a roundhouse punch. Pain blossomed across Harry's jaw. The young wizard went flying backwards, smashing into a van parked at the side of the square, though still inside the will of flame. The metal crumpled around him, trapping him momentarily. _Ow! I thought I was invulnerable?_ Harry mused. When he managed to unpeel the van from his body he saw Vermin crouching over him. The were-rat lashed out, raking Harry with his claws. More of the wizard's colorful costume was ripped away. But Harry felt nothing. He tried batting the nuisance away, but the rat was too fast. Harry ignored him and started casting curses at the Demogoblin, who either batted them away or absorbed them with no noticeable damage.

Finally, Harry called on the Crimson bands of Cyttorak to bind his foe. These conjurations the demon could not ignore. The bands wrapped around the burning being and caused him to crash into the unforgiving concrete pavement. Harry saw the Rhino moving into another charge. Knowing that as Cyttorak's Avatar he was unstoppable as long as he was moving, Harry started running full power towards the charging villain.

The collision was epic. The shockwave knocked over every vehicle and person in the square. Windows for blocks around shattered and the Hellfire barrier was snuffed out. Of the two gargantua that collided, only the unstoppable one continued forward. The Rhino was sent flying backwards. He crashed through three buildings before landing in a donut shop. Harry continued moving, though much more slowly. His costume was in tatters, even his Unbreakable Charms having been overcome. A quick _"Reparo!"_ on his mask maintained his identity at least.

Harry moved towards Demogoblin, the next most dangerous of the foursome. On the way he saw Calypso was down for the moment, stunned by the shockwave. The demon was still bound by the Crimson Bands. After a quick check Vermin was nowhere to be seen. Harry quickly stunned the dark witch. Before he could figure out how to deal with the bound demon, Spider-man returned to direct the NYPD's special task force officers to take the two villains into custody.

"Teach your grandmother to suck eggs, web-head," was the nice squad leader's pithy reply. It turned out that both Vermin and Rhino had gotten away, the later with two dozen crullers.

"Bastion, all this destruction looks like a job for Damage Control, don't you think?" Harry did not appreciate the web-slinger's joke. He hoped that no one in the damaged buildings had gotten hurt. He also had no idea who would pay for the repairs.

"I've got to get out of here," Harry said. "I'm not sure how much longer these rags will hold up."

"Ok, I'll meet you back at your place," Spider-man replied. "And thanks for this. You did great."

That was the last of Bastion's superheroic exploits that summer. Spider-man had debriefed him after the battle. Jameson was unharmed; though the whole misadventure had given him new ammunition in his ongoing crusade against the Spider Menace. People all over the country had seen Bastion on live television as several news crews had managed to set up in time to capture the whole battle. Not many super brawls were fought in such a public venue and with a known time schedule. The Fatal Four had wanted lots of publicity for their defeat of Spider-man. They got the publicity, just not quite the way they wanted it. "Now that you've had your television debut, reporters all over the city are wondering who Bastion is. They want a story and if you're not going to give them one, they'll likely make up their own."

"No, publicity is not really something I'm looking for. I'm not sure this costumed crimefighter thing is going to work for me. It may be best if I quietly exit the country, for a while at least. Maybe I'll be back next summer."

"Your choice. I won't try to talk you into staying. I know you have things to do back home. But you're always welcome here. Don't forget there are supers in Britain too. Here is a card for Excalibur. They're active over there and might want your help. Or you can call on them if you need their help. Just tell them Spidey sent you."

"I might have one favor to ask you."

"What's that?"

"Doctor Strange is still out of the dimension or some such so he can't teleport me back to Britain. Do you know of anyone that can arrange a way for me to get home? I'm too heavy to fly commercial and I can't afford a charter. I could go surface ship, but don't know how to arrange that. Any suggestions?"

That was how, two weeks later Harry found himself in an X-Men Blackbird, once more dressed in his Bastion attire to preserve his identity, roaring across the Atlantic. A blue furred man who went by the name Beast sat at the controls. A beautiful British Asian woman called Psylocke kept Harry company in the passenger seats.

"I have stabilized the platform to compensate for your mass. I can understand your reticence to use commercial travel options," said Beast. His voice was cultured and his vocabulary both lyrical and polysyllabic. It reminded Harry of Hermione when she forgot she was speaking with pre-teens. "May I inquire as to how you came to find yourself on our fair shores?"

"Doctor Strange did me a favor and brought me to the U.S. magically. Unfortunately he's not available and I need to return for some pressing engagements," Harry equivocated. By mentioning the Sorcerer Supreme, he hoped to establish some much-needed credibility with these known heroes. Beast had been both and X-man and an Avenger over the years. He was probably the most respected member of the mutant team.

"Would these engagements be of the costumed variety?"

"If so, you may want to look up my brother if you need help." Psylocke's voice was soft and her accent posh. Harry wondered where she was from originally and how she ended up with the X-Men.

"Your brother?" Harry asked.

"Captain Britain," she replied. "He mostly works with Excalibur these days. They're the premier UK based super team."

"Spider-man gave me a contact for them." Harry pulled the card out of his pouch and showed it to her. She took it and wrote another number on it.

"That's the Captain's direct number and my code. He will know I gave it to you. If you'd like I'll be meeting with him tomorrow. I can arrange an introduction."

Harry thought for a moment. "I don't plan on getting involved in any super doings while in Britain. It's more of something I fell into in New York. Sort of a 'when in Rome' kind of thing. I want to keep a much lower profile at home."

She gazed at Harry. The silence stretched then she replied, "Not everyone has that option. However, if that's your desire and you can pull it off, good for you. If not, don't be afraid to ask for help. Too many people in this business feel that have to save the world by themselves. That's the strength of being on a team, or at least having friends. There are fewer of us than there are of them so we have to help each other when we can."

"So what do you enjoy doing when out of costume, Bastion?" Beast changed the topic. They spent the rest of the flight trading simple stories and amusing anecdotes.

Harry deplaned in a field outside Bath. It was the evening of August 18th. He walked into town and took a room at a bed and breakfast. He wandered the old Roman city for two days, enjoying the architecture and the history. He phoned Hermione to let her know he was back in the country and they arranged to meet at the Burrow the next day. That morning, he traveled by Britrail to Ottery St. Catchpole in the Blackdown Hills of Devon. Harry knew Hermione would be travelling by the Knight Bus, but he enjoyed the slower pace of the more mundane train. Hermione met him at the village's small station. They hugged.

"Oh Harry. It feels like it's been so long."

"I called you weekly."

"I know but it's not the same. I finally saw the footage from your battle in Times Square." She started to pound on his shoulder. "Don't do that. You could really have been hurt. Rhino and Demogoblin are really dangerous."

"The big guy sure packed a wallop. Still, it was good for me to learn that there are people out there stronger and tougher than I am. I think I was getting cocky." They talked as they walked towards the Burrow. Harry carried Hermione's bag. "Where's Hedwig?"

"I sent her to Ron with the message we'd be there today and asked him to watch her overnight. It's funny, even with Hedwig I've not corresponded with Ron as much this summer as I have in the past."

"He did invite us to the World Cup. That should be very interesting."

"I am looking forward to it. Not so much for the sport," Harry smiled. Hermione blushed. "But the opportunity to see and interact with people from all over the world is too valuable to miss. Just think of the different sorts of magic we might see. That Calypso woman you fought is probably just a regular witch who studied under an Afro-Caribbean tradition rather than a Latinate tradition like Hogwarts. Her magic was different, but not as different as the sorcery you have shown me."

"Whatever she was, she knows a lot more magic than I do."

"She's older than you and has probably been studying much longer. Despite your individual achievements, you're still only a fourth year, and not really that for another two weeks."

"I can always count on you to bring me back to Earth."

"Harry…"

The Burrow was less than a mile out of the village. Harry was shocked at the house. It looked like an old farmhouse that had been added onto and upfrom almost at random. It was obviously held together by magic. Harry was surprised it was even allowed in a mixed magical/mundane environment. It was at least six stories tall. In the back, Harry spotted the tips of a set of Quidditch hoops. Slowly Harry started to grin. "This is the best house I've ever seen."

Ron opened the door and raced out to see his friends. "Harry! Hermione. You got here. You didn't take the floo. Did you use the Knight Bus? I hate that thing. I always end up queasy after riding it."

"Nah, we walked." Harry deadpanned.

"What!" Ron reacted. Hermione giggled.

"Ron, we walked from the train station in the village. I took the Knight Bus, and you are right about the queasy feelings. Harry took the train."

"Why'd you travel muggle, mate?"

"How is the West of England Main Line any more 'muggle' than the Hogwarts Express?"

"Well…I don't know. It's not magical, is it?"

Hermione dragged the boys into the house. Mrs. Weasley wrapped both newcomers in warm hugs. "Harry, the Headmaster was looking for you again. He was upset you were not with your relatives." Rather than argue. Harry pulled his permission note from his pouch.

 _To whom it may concern,_

 _Harry Potter has our permission to be away from our home for as long as he wants. It is alright if he never comes back._

 _Signed,_

 _His Guardians,_

 _Vernon & Petunia Dursley_

Mrs. Weasley read it with a rapidly darkening pallor to her face. "Well I never …"

"They don't like me. They don't want me there. And I don't want to be there, Mrs. Weasley." She grabbed him and hugged him tightly.

"It's alright Harry. We want you." She crooned.

"What I don't understand is why the Headmaster wants me to go back. He said something about protective magics, but they're gone."

"I'm sure he's just thinking of what's best for you, Harry," Mrs. Weasley reassured him. Harry said nothing. He was not so certain anymore, but had no proof. He honestly hoped she was right. Fred and George came clattering down the stairs and the morning turned chaotic.

The twins offered the three friends some special sweets. Upon eating them Hermione turned in to a human sized canary. Ron's tongue grew to ten times its normal length, flopping down in front of his chest. Both started protesting unintelligibly. After a few seconds, Hermione molted and turned back into herself. Ron had to get his tongue fixed by his oldest brother Bill.

"Still working on that change back timing," Twin One said.

"The question is why didn't Harry's hair catch on fire," Twin Two remarked.

"Hair catch on fire? That is much too dangerous to be messing about with. Upstairs the both of you. You'll be de-gnoming the garden until after your NEWTS!" Mrs. Weasley ranted. After that, Harry and Hermione were introduced to Ron's two oldest brothers, Bill and Charlie. They all, even the twins, spent the day outdoors, catching up with each other, playing Quidditch, and generally enjoying a warm summer day.

The next day they got up early to catch a portkey to the Quidditch World Cup.


	11. Chapter 11

**Unstoppable!**

 **Chapter Eleven**

Much as Hermione had anticipated, the World Cup encampment was filled with people from around the wizarding world. The two finalist, Ireland and Bulgaria, had many fans of their own, but many others had come for the spectacle or the party. Harry and Hermione had accompanied the Weasleys and the Diggorys to the event via portkey. Harry decided he actually liked portkeys less than the floo. _Why can't wizards use portals like Doctor Strange?_ He asked himself. Harry looked at the stadium in wonder.

"Seats a hundred thousand," said Mr. Weasley, spotting the look on Harry's face. "Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year. Muggle Repelling Charms on every inch of it. Every time Muggles have got anywhere near here all year, they've suddenly remembered urgent appointments and had to dash away again ... bless them," he added fondly. Harry and Hermione traded looks at Mr. Weasley's patronizing tone. Both knew the wizard meant well, but he really thought of normal people as cute children. The fact that he was one of the Ministry's chief experts on non-magical made Harry wonder about the effectiveness of the wizarding government.

On the way to the campsite, the young wizard noticed all sorts of interesting people and things. The magically expanded tents were perhaps the most impressive. Most looked almost ordinary; their owners had clearly tried to make them as Muggle-like as possible, but had slipped up by adding chimneys, or bellpulls, or weather vanes. However, here and there was a tent so obviously magical that Harry could hardly be surprised that the locals were getting suspicious. As they walked Ron and his brothers kept up a constant narrative about the upcoming match and their expectations for it. After they had set up their tents, the younger kids went out to explore. Harry was enjoying himself. He was having fun being a kid again. In New York he realized, even when he was by himself, he acted like an adult. _Today at least I can set that aside and just have fun,_ he decided.

During the morning, the young Gryffindors ran into several schoolmates. Most of the discussion was on the relative chances of the two teams, but there was also the mandatory comparisons of how their summers had gone. When they returned to the tents for tea, several of Mr. Weasley's Ministry co-workers showed up. Seeing the Head of the Sports Office making bets with anyone that would put up money was another nail in the coffin of Harry's respect for the Ministry. On the other hand hearing discussion of flying carpets as a substitute for brooms interested him. Maybe a carpet could fly with his weight on it. It was worth testing if he could find one. Maybe he could get a special license or something.

That evening the call went out to fill the stadium for the match. Mr. Weasley had used his connections as a department head to get them seats in the Top Box along with the Minister and several ranking guests. Harry wondered if Mr. Weasley had dropped the name of the Boy-Who-Lived to help secure the tickets. While it was not something he paid attention to, he knew his fame could open doors if he wanted to use it that way. When the family finally reached the box, Harry saw there were twenty seats in two rows. Most were empty as they were the first to arrive. The one occupied seat had a small being, very similar to the house-elf that had appeared in his hotel room the summer after first year. The young wizard had not seen any more of the small beings, even though older students had told him there were many of them in service at Hogwarts. Harry walked towards the little elf. The last one had known about his connection to Cyttorak. Maybe this one had useful knowledge as well. "Hello," He said gently when he was about eight feet from the elf.

The little one looked at Harry with wide eyes, exclaimed "Cyttorak!" and disappeared. _So much for that idea,_ the wizard thought.

"What was that?" Hermione asked.

"That was a house-elf. Not sure what she was doing here, but … no matter." Mr. Weasley shrugged and went back to examining the crowd below. Slowly the box started to fill. Minister Fudge introduced Harry to the Bulgarian Minster who could not seem to get past Harry's size and lack of the vivid lightning bolt scar. Fudge seemed a bit disappointed at the Slavic Minister's lack of fawning over the British national hero. The next group to come to the box surprised Harry. Draco, his father, and a woman Harry assumed was Draco's mother arrived. They greeted the Minister, insulted Mr. Weasley, ignored Hermione, and then came to Harry.

"Mr. Potter. I had not thought to see you here. I was led to believe that you spend your summers with your muggle relatives," Mr. Malfoy's voice was smooth as the flat of a razor, and held a similar edge just out of sight. "I didn't think you took part in the Wizarding World other than Hogwarts. I understood this to be … for your safety. It's good that you have such concern for your wellbeing. It would be tragic if something were to happen to the boy that has done so much for our nation."

"I appreciate the depth of your interest in my welfare and that of our nation." Harry's smile showed just how honest he felt Malfoy's interest was.

"Severus has told me of your accomplishments. I understand that he'll be bringing a measure to the Board calling for your expulsion for your attack on him and your use of forbidden magic."

"I was not aware that the Patronus Charm is considered forbidden magic."

"You used forbidden sorcery."

"The Patronus seems to be sorcerous in nature but it is not forbidden."

"And you attack on your professor?"

"Allegedly happened outside of the school environment and was, allegedly, in self-defense and defense of others. I don't think the Board, which I understand you were asked to leave, has any jurisdiction. The alleged action was not a school matter." Minister Fudge looked between his most generous supporter and the famous boy.

"Leave Harry alone, Malfoy." Harry was surprised to see Sirius come in to the box. The former prisoner looked much better than when last Harry had seen him. He was clean and well groomed. His skin was less sallow and his cheeks filled out more. It looked like he had been eating better and getting some sun. "My godson is my responsibility."

"And you've done such a marvelous job of it too," Mrs. Malfoy joined in the conversation. "It is so lovely to see you, cousin. Have you found new accommodations yet? Perhaps something with stone floors and barred windows, just to feel more familiar. Have you a spare cell … Excuse me, I meant room for young Potter?"

"Narcissa, You're looking more like my mother every day." Sirius grinned. The feuding families separated and Sirius came over to speak with Harry. The older wizard pulled the younger into the back corner of the box, putting distance between them and the other occupants. "Harry, it's good to see you," Sirius reached up put his hand on the taller wizard's broad shoulder. Harry patted his godfather gently on the back.

"You too. I take it you got your trial?"

"Yeah, Dumbledore pushed it through even though there was some resistance in the Ministry leadership. The Rat got a trial too. He's in my old cell in Azkaban now, with added anti-animagus charms. You weren't at the trial. Dumbledore said he tried to bring you but you weren't at your relative's."

"I don't live with them anymore. We agreed it was for the best. I take care of myself during the holidays."

"You don't have to. You can live with me. I have a place in my house that I've set up just for you." Harry looked at the older wizard. He saw the hope in his godfather's eyes. For the longest time he would have given anything to be wanted by someone. Even now that he had friends that he cared about and he knew cared for him, it was a powerful pull. However, the man was still mostly a stranger to him. The Marauder was a connection to his parents, his past; but not necessarily part of his future.

"We can see how that might work over Christmas," Harry suggested. That seemed to satisfy the older wizard. They rejoined the Weasleys and watched the match.

The mascots were amusing, but Harry was disturbed at how powerfully he could feel the magical attraction of the Bulgarian mascots pressing against his occlumency shields. He was not wearing his mind shield amulet as it interfered with his development of his own shields. Sirius told him they were veela, a type of magical siren, whose allure could drive men to almost any action. Once the game began, Harry was both fascinated by and envious of the flyers. The grace and sheer speed of the players were beyond anything he had experienced before. He found he really missed flying. He missed playing Quidditch, but just flying would have satisfied him. The skill of the Irish chasers easily outmatched the Bulgarian. Krum easily outflew the Irish seeker. The match quickly turned dirty, with both teams racking up penalties. Even the mascots got involved. In the end, though Krum had snatched the snitch out of Lynch's hands, the Irish won by a single goal.

The crowd, no matter who they were supporting, went wild. The party lasted well into the night. Harry and his friends turned in relatively early. But the noises of the celebrants cut through the thin walls of the tent. Eventually they drifted off into a light sleep.

"Get up! Ron - Harry - come on now, get up, this is urgent!" Mr. Weasley's voices jerked Harry out of his slumber.

"What's happnin'?"

"Dad?"

Outside the sounds had changed. There were screams of fear rather than the sounds of celebration. Harry could see flickering lights and running figures through the tent walls. "What's going on? Harry asked, the adrenalin flushing the sleep from his system.

"No time to explain. Just grab a jacket. We have to get out of here. Move it." The boys threw jackets on over their pajamas. Harry made sure to grab his belt and pouch. When they got out of the tent they could see by the light of the still burning campfire. People were running into the woods. Coming towards them were a line of black robed wizards walking shoulder to shoulder, with wands pointing into the air. Harry saw glimpses of masks under their hoods. Above them were four figures thrashing around trying to get free of the masked wizards' spells. Sirius came over with Ginny and Hermione. He had his wand out. Bill, Charley, and Percy were looking around trying to figure out what to do.

"Boys, help the kids into the woods. Sirius and I will bring up the rear. Move out." Harry moved with the group towards the woods. Then he heard a scream as a Blasting Curse hit a tent. He turned around. He realized the figures in the air were the Roberts family, the campground owners, and that the black robed wizards were torturing them, as well as firing indiscriminately into the tents.

 _I have to do something,_ Harry thought. He started to lag behind. "Come on Harry, keep up." Hermione called.

"I have to help them" Harry said. "Someone's going to get hurt."

"You can't do anything Harry. As soon as we have you kids to a safe place then we can come back to help them. So move it." Sirius said.

"Sirius, there are a hundred thousand people with wands in this area and everyone is running from these guys while they torture people. Someone has to do something and I can."

"You don't understand. Those are Death Eaters!" Mr. Weasley said. "Now run for the woods. I'll go back."

"You're right Harry _we_ can do something, but you kids need to be safe first."

"Hermione, Ron, this is like with the spiders. You get safe and I can do this." Harry squeezed her hand and then started running towards the oncoming Death Eaters.

Sirius and Mr. Weasley tried to grab Harry as he went by but he brushed past them. Sirius cast a silent jinx that had no effect on Harry. The young wizard cleared the fleeing crowd and found himself facing a dozen Death Eaters. They were marching slowly across the field. More wizards were joining the masked group, laughing and pointing up at the floating figures. Tents crumpled and fell as the Death Eater ranks swelled. Once or twice Harry saw one of the masked wizards blast a tent out of his way with his wand. Several caught fire. The screaming grew louder.

Harry raced towards them. He realized he was not alone. Bill, Charlie, and Percy were already sprinting toward the oncoming Death Eaters; Mr. Weasley and Sirius coming close behind them. Harry realized that he had been wrong about everyone running away. Ministry wizards were dashing from every direction toward the source of the trouble. Harry estimated more than thirty Death Eaters were crowded beneath the Roberts family. Spells started hitting the massed miscreants but were having little effect. It looked as though ministry wizards and witches were scared to perform any spell that might make the levitated figures fall.

"Counter their levitation," Harry yelled as he smashed in to the crowd of black-robed wizards. He had to retrain himself so that he only bowled them over rather than leaving them a red paste on the campsite grounds. He knock three wizards off their feet. Others started raining spells down on him. Stunners, cutters, and blasting curses had no effect. He had no wand in his hand so Disarming Charms were useless. Banishers could not knock him back as long as he was moving forward. So he kept charging.

He got into the center of the group and started lashing out at the wizards maintaining the levitation spell on the floating family. He knock four of them off their feet before he heard his first unforgivable of the night. " _Crucio!"_ shouted one of the masked wizards. A sickly orange curse lanced from his wand and impacted Harry before he could dodge. The curse hurt. It was like being stabbed, burned, and shocked all at once. However, it was not debilitating. Harry was able to reach out and crush the wand of the caster, snapping a few of the older wizard's fingers in the effort. He kept hold of the wizard's hand and used him like a club to bludgeon other nearby Death Eaters. In seconds he had managed to distract or damage all the people keeping the campground owners in the air. They started falling, one at a time. The ministry wizards and the Weasleys caught them and moved them to safety.

"Get out of there, Harry!" Sirius called. "We can't fight them with you in the middle." Harry realized what his godfather was saying was correct, and started to make his way out of the crowd.

Someone hit him with a pale spell and Harry changed his mind. He decided he had a better chance of stopping the bad people while in close quarters. He figured he was safer in the middle where the Death Eaters could not use their numbers to their advantage for fear of hitting each other. He surged back into the milling throng.

More spells rained down on him. Most were ineffective, but a few seemed to cause pain or minor injury. Harry recognized them from his studies as darker curses like blood boilers, bone breakers, and acid jets. He screamed when someone hit him with another _Cruciatus_ Curse but it stopped when he swung wildly at a nearby group of wizards. He softened his blows, remembering how fragile people were and how he did not want to hurt anyone. Red stunners started to pour in from outside the circle of Death Eaters. The masked wizards began to disappear with loud pops. When there were only a few left, one of the hooded figures unleashed a familiar green spell. _"_ _Avada Kedavra!"_ The spell hit Harry and he collapsed.

The world seemed to shift to a swirling crimson mist. Harry floated through the mist, without really moving. After some indeterminate period of timelessness the mists seem to congeal into a set of heavy wooden doors. The doors opened and Harry floated into what looked like a posh business office. There was the requisite large desk and massive throne like chair. There was a full-wall window behind the desk. Outside the window was an asteroid field with planets and stars in the distance. Oddly Harry noticed a tug boat pulling a giant balloon elephant through the spaces between the nearest asteroids. It was being followed by a large office building with sails and what looked like pirates peeking out of the windows.

"Lovely view don't you think?" The speaker was a man standing with his back to the room. He was dressed in a dark red suit. He turned and smiled at Harry. He looked a lot like one of the Monty Python guys. "Please have a seat. I wanted to take this opportunity to speak with you." The man took his seat behind the desk and conjured a chair for Harry.

"Who are you and where am I?"

"I'm surprised a smart kid like you hasn't figured that out yet. I'm Cyttorak."

"What?"

"I'm your patron. I thought that as you were at loose ends after being killed for the … what, third time I think … that we might have a chat about how this is supposed to work."

"Killed?"

"My, you're monosyllabic when you're confused. Yes, killed. When you were hit with the Killing Curse the first time, the basilisk's gaze the second time, and just now with another Killing Curse. Now obviously you're only mostly dead, but that's thanks to me and the fact that I've anchored your soul to your body and to my gem. Now if you were fully my avatar you wouldn't be vulnerable to these pesky spells. But, you're not, are you?"

"I'm not?"

"No. You have only part of the power of a true Juggernaut. In order to fully enter my service you need to agree to serve me. You also have to be a bit more chaotic. You've done a fair job in using my power. You've given me several sacrifices - Quirrell's life, part of Riddle's soul, lots of giant spiders, the great basilisk, another part of Riddle's soul, and all those yummy dementors. But it's not enough. You keep using my powers to help other. Really, fighting Calypso and her petty thugs, and not a single sacrifice. And now with these wizards. If you were sacrificing them to me it would be one thing, but to fight for some nebulous good is not my way."

"But I'm not evil. And I don't want to be."

"I'm not saying you have to be evil, though a little evil never hurt anyone. I'm a chaos god. I want you to break rules. Order is not our friend. You must be destructive, as entropy is a return to the primordial chaos. You must be selfish, as selfishness destroys social order. You cannot be a hero and serve me."

"Then I don't want to serve you. I'm not a hero. I'm not good enough to be one. Nevertheless, I want to help people and do good. If that means you take your power back then so be it." The man look pensive for a moment than broke out in a smile.

"You're still young. There's time for you to see that the world hates heroes. If you try to be one in the end you'll either be destroyed by society, and therefore no more concern of mine, or you'll destroy that society to save yourself. Then you'll be all mine and I'll make you a true Juggernaut. Until then, send me more yummy souls."

"I won't be yours. Never."

"We'll see…" Harry fell when the chair he was sitting in disappeared. He passed through the floor in to the swirling crimson chaos. Then he heard a voice.

"Harry! Please wake up." The young wizard jerked awake to Ginny's voice. He was in an unfamiliar room. There were several unknown voices nearby, but when he opened his eyes, he saw the Weasleys and Hermione standing next to him. He looked around. There were lockers and benches all around him. He was on a large, heavy table. "Harry, you have to wake up. The Ministry people are trying to claim you're dead."

"I'm not dead yet."

"Of course you aren't," Hermione agreed. "But someone said you got hit by a Killing Curse. Therefore you have to be dead, even though you're still breathing, albeit pretty slowly."

"I _was_ hit by a bloody Killing Curse. Felt like the basilisk's stare. It hurts." Harry sat upright and carefully looked himself over. "Good. No growth."

"What?" asked Ron.

"Last couple of times I got knocked out I woke up bigger. Not this time. I was just glad. If I get any bigger I'm going to have to start borrowing Hagrid's clothes."

Ron snorted and Hermione slapped his shoulder.

"Now who says I'm dead?"

"Harry!" Sirius came running. He stopped and looked his godson over. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore, but alive. I hear there is some doubt about that."

"Ahem…" A short, toad-like woman in a pink cardigan seemed to appear at Sirius' elbow. "Can you prove you're alive?"

"What?"

"We have several credible reports that you were hit with a Killing Curse. That is _prima facie_ evidence that you are dead as no one can survive that curse. Therefore, can you prove that you're not a ghost, an inferius, or some other form of magical construct?" The woman looked both smug and disgusted. Harry looked confused.

"Can you prove you're alive?" the young wizard asked. "I'm not doubting you are. I'm just wondering what sort of proof you would accept."

"I'm not the one in question here." She said smiling.

"And who's questioning if I am alive? Remember that I survived the Killing Curse before. Maybe I'm immune." This raised murmurs among the crowd that had gathered around the big table.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked, offended.

"No. And it was rude of me to assume you knew who I am. My name is Harry Potter." He held out his hand.

"I know that," she said, not moving to take his hand. "I am Delores Umbridge, the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic. I'm in charge here."

"Pleased to meet you. Forgive my ignorance, but is determining the medical condition of an injured person part of your responsibilities as Undersecretary?"

"Don't get cheeky with me. I heard what you did to the Ministry's dementor population. That's not possible with any known magic. I saw you hit with more than a dozen dark curses, including that Killing Curse. There is no way that a witch or wizard could have survived such attacks. So either you didn't survive or you're not a wizard. If you say you _are_ alive. Then I have to ask, a living what? I think I should take you into the Department of Mysteries for study, or perhaps for disposal." Harry's friends started to protest.

"Madame Umbridge. I am Harry's godfather and guardian. If you want to take him into custody, you'll need a warrant from the Wizengamot. Until that time we'll be leaving."

"Mr. Black. You may be sure I will be talking with the Minister about this."

"As will I, Madame Umbridge. As will I." Sirius motioned for the younger magicals to move out of the room. Harry and the others complied. Fred and George led the way. Soon Harry realized he had been in one of the team locker rooms in the World Cup stadium. It was still dark out, but the Sun was staining the eastern sky.

After the group had gathered outside the stadium, Mr. Weasley pulled out a bicycle inner tube. "This is a portkey. Every one grab on. Charlie, Bill, and I will stay here to gather our gear and will see you back at the Borrow." Once they group had touched the tube, Mr. Weasley touched it with his wand and they all disappeared.

The Daily Prophet was late that morning, but when it arrived it sported a picture of Harry engaged with the Death Eaters on the front page under the headline – Man-Mountain Who Lived! The story was a sensationalist piece of fluff that told how Harry Potter, magically grown into a man, single handedly saved the World Cup attendees from unknown attackers. The tone seemed off to Harry, but it was Hermione that pointed out the subtle use of language that hinted that there might have been something sinister about Harry's size, strength, and ability to shrug off dark curses. Nowhere did the article mention the various Unforgivable that had been cast. Nor was it mentioned who the masked attackers were. _The world hates heroes_ , Harry remembered.

The following week was a bit crazy for Harry. The older Weasleys, except for Mrs. Weasley, were mostly away from home. Mr. Weasley and Percy were busy at the Ministry, where Percy got a job over the summer. Bill and Charley were out and about most days, though they did not tell the youngsters where they were. Charley hinted about big doings at Hogwarts, but when pressed refused to be more explicit. Fred thought Bill had a girlfriend he was visiting, as he often missed dinner. Percy spent a lot of his time at home complaining about all the work caused by the disaster at the World Cup. He occasionally gave Harry disapproving looks and muttered quietly about trouble in the Wizengamot. He also would not divulge any details. Harry was a bit surprised not to see Sirius that week.

Harry played a prominent role in the coverage of the Daily Prophet. There were more stories about his fight with the masked attackers, who they very carefully did not call Death Eaters. All of the attackers had managed to escape, even ones Harry had knocked unconscious. One reporter was particularly vicious to Harry, floating the rumors that Harry was not really a wizard, but some sort of golem or construct. Or that he had treated with otherworldly powers to gain abilities far beyond the normal wizard. Harry thought this last too close to the truth. Bill, who was playing chess with Ron told Harry not to worry. "Rita Skeeter never makes anyone look good. She interviewed all the Gringotts' Charm Breakers once, and called me 'a long-haired pillock'." This set off Mrs. Weasley who spent several minutes trying to convince her eldest that his hair was a bit long and she would be happy to 'trim' it for him.

On the morning of the 1st, the Weasleys rushed to get ready for the Express. The train ride was relatively uneventful. Malfoy and friends made their usual visit to insult Harry and his friends. This time Malfoy mocked the Gryffindors for not knowing what new interesting thing was going on at Hogwarts this year, despite Mr. Weasley's connections in the Ministry. The Sorting Feast was interesting only in that Dumbledore actually let the whole school know about what Malfoy and Charley and others had been hinting – The Triwizard Tournament.

Harry was surprised that they had agreed upon something as reasonable as not opening the gladiatorial contest to underaged students. He was also intrigued by the idea of meeting kids from other magical schools. Seeing the differences between the magical society in the U.S. and the U.K., Harry was wondering about these other countries. Doctor Strange had often referred to the European wizarding world as if there were cultural similarities across the continent.

After the Feast Harry got word, not unexpected, that the Headmaster wanted to talk with him in his office. Hermione and Ron gave him encouraging thumbs up as he left the Great Hall. Harry made his way to the gargoyle guardian and offered the password. The Headmaster, Snape, and Sirius were waiting inside the office. "Harry, Thank you for coming." The Headmaster's voice was soft and calm. Harry was reminded that the last time they had spoken there had been both harsh and hopeful words.

"Headmaster," Harry nodded. "Professor Snape. Sirius, I'm surprised to see you here."

"I've asked both of these fine gentlemen to be here for this discussion. Each has information that I wanted to talk with you about. As Sirius is now your legal guardian …"

"What do you mean?" Harry interrupted. "What about the Dursleys?"

"As your Aunt and Uncle effectively abandoned you for the last two years, and Sirius was your parent's choice for guardian, the Wizengamot granted his petition shortly after his trial acquitted him. Sirius has been your guardian since the middle of August."

Sirius smiled at him hopefully. "Is that ok, pup? It is what your parents wanted and if I hadn't been so stupid all those years ago it's the way it would have been the whole time."

"That's great Sirius," Harry said quietly. He was not sure how he felt. He did not like the Dursleys and they had never cared for him. On the other hand, he did not really know Sirius and he had gotten used to taking care of himself.

"Harry, you said that getting Sirius a trail was a step towards rebuilding your trust. I did what I said. Now I have a few questions I…we… need answers to."

"Alright."

"Where have you been the last two summers?"

"New York."

"America?" Sirius sounded shocked. "Skipped the country, way to go pup. When I ran away from home, I just went to Wales."

"Encouraging his delinquency. Now we can all see what sort of guardian you'll make, Black." Snape's voice held a level of vitriol Harry seldom heard, even when the potion master was ranting at his least favorite students."

"Bite me, Snape."

"Gentlemen, please. What were you doing in New York, Harry?"

"Mostly I was working."

"Mostly?"

"I also met a man that helped me find out what happened to me, how I changed. He helped me learn to control myself better and taught me some magic. His name was Stephen Strange."

"Ah, Doctor Strange," the Headmaster sat silently for a moment, looking somewhere outside of the office. "And what sort of magic did he teach you?"

Harry thought for a moment about how much he would tell them. He looked at Snape and remembered that he had been both present and aware when Harry had summoned the Crimson Specter Patronus. It was a near certainty that the professor had told Dumbledore what he had seen. That also explained Lucius Malfoy's comment back at the World Cup. "He worked with me on occlumency and the basics of invocations."

"Sorcery! I knew it!" Snape sounded triumphant.

"But that's dark magic," Sirius sounded uncertain.

"It's not considered dark or illegal in the US. And there was a reason he taught me."

"What reason?" Dumbledore pressed.

"My powers come from a connection to Cyttorak."

"An eldritch demon …" Snape said.

"You've been possessed?" Sirius cried, looking horror-stricken.

"No. My mother performed some sort of ritual invoking Cyttorak's protection on me the night Voldemort attacked. Her sacrifice sealed the protection and that's what reflected the Killing Curse. Somehow, that opened a channel to Cyttorak's power that lay dormant until I touched the Philosopher's Stone. Flamel used a shard of the Crimson Ruby of Cyttorak in creating the Stone. Touching it reopened the dormant channel and I was flooded with eldritch energy. That's what changed me."

Harry opened his shirt showing the gem pulsing in his chest. "This is a permanent connection to that power. So Doctor Strange showed me how to control the channel. As part of that, he taught me a few invocations. Mostly he taught me how to not hurt other people."

"In June you invoked that power," the Headmaster clarified.

"I learned that these bands, which cannot be removed any more than the gem can, act like wands allowing me to cast wizarding spells. If I cast a Patronus with them, it comes out as what I call the Scarlet Specter. If I cast with my wand, it comes out as Prongs. That night I just cast a Patronus Charm with these bands. I added a little to the incantation because I needed to concentrate with all the dementors attacking. I don't think it was a true invocation, at least no more than the Patronus ever is."

"Hmmm…" The Headmaster did not reply. "And the night of the World Cup, did you use any sorcery?"

"No. I didn't cast anything. I just ran in to the crowd of Death Eaters and started knocking them about. I was trying to save the Roberts family."

"Foolish Gryffindor move if ever I've heard one," Snape muttered.

"Speaking of that night, why did that woman from the Ministry want to claim I was dead?"

"Umbridge," Sirius barked. "Lovely lady, she is. Mostly she hates anything not 'normal', perhaps especially magical creatures that are bigger and scarier than she is. She had a particular hard on against giants and centaurs. Hates werewolves too. She's decided that your strength and magical resistance are too much like a giant's. I think she figures you're somehow a half giant or something. She wasn't really arguing that you were dead, just that you weren't a wizard. She wants you out of Hogwarts, maybe out of the wizarding world all together. We've managed," he gestured between Dumbledore and himself, "to hold her off for now. However, it'd help if you'd stay out of her sight for a while. Let her forget about you."

"Harry, you cannot use any sorcery in Britain," The Headmaster said earnestly. "It's forbidden and might land you in Azkaban, or worse. I might not be able to protect you. More to the point, it's too dangerous. It's forbidden for a reason. Those that deal with demons are bound to get burned."

"I understand and I'll not use it," Harry agreed, leaving the _Unless I have to_ , unsaid.


	12. Chapter 12

**Unstoppable!**

 **Chapter Twelve**

"Harry Potter!" The Headmaster's voice rang throughout the Great Hall. The silence following was total. All eyes were on the slip of paper that had just come out of the flaming goblet.

"No!" Harry called.

"Harry your name has come from the Goblet. Please join the other champions."

"NO!" Harry said louder. "I did _not_ put my name in. How could it come out?"

"Of course you cheated, Potter," Snape said loudly. "Surely you've disrupted this important ceremony enough, garnered attention enough, even for you. Now obey the Headmaster."

"I didn't enter this contest. I won't be join the champions. I will not compete." Harry started for the doors to the Great Hall.

"Harry!" Dumbledore called.

Snape cut him off by drawing his wand and sent a " _Levicorpus!"_ at Harry. The young wizard was already moving so the spell had no effect. As he left the Hall, Harry heard several professors yelling at Snape.

Harry rushed to the owlery. He needed to contact Sirius. If the marauder wanted to be his guardian, then this was the sort of thing from which he needed to guard Harry. His message sent, the young wizard made his way to the library. He need to find out what he could about the Goblet and how it chose the names it did. _Someone put my name in there. I don't know why, but given my luck it can't be good._

"Harry?" Hermione's voice drew the young wizard's attention from the book he had found on magical contracts. The first book on the Goblet mentioned that being selected formed a binding magical contract for the contestant to compete.

"Apparently the earliest forms of the Tournament were not necessarily voluntary," Harry said without looking up. "They were more like gladiatorial combats where problem students could be made to compete as a punishment. The Goblet has magic that can compel the champions to compete or lose their magic, maybe even their lives."

"I know. I was really glad to see that Professor Dumbledore had put an age line around the cup. It was supposed to stop this sort of thing from happening."

He gestured to the book he was reading. "I'm trying to see if there is a way out of the contract."

"And?"

"I think I'm stuck."

"Oh Harry…"

"Yeah."

It was not long before Madame Pinch found the two reading quietly. "Mr. Potter, the Headmaster would like to speak with you in his office."

The discussion went pretty much as Harry expected. He would have to compete. Dumbledore said he believed Harry had not entered his name or asked anyone else to do it. He suggested that someone was trying to do Harry harm by entering him into the contest. Harry also found out the First Task would be in just a few weeks and the champions were not to be given any information on the task. When he got back to the dorm, Harry found that Ron was angry at him for figuring a way to get into the contest without telling his best friend.

"I didn't do it, Ron. I didn't put my name in and I don't want to compete."

"Yeh, right."

So Harry spent the next weeks fighting the accusations that he had cheated his way into the contest, arguing with his supposed best friend, and trying to figure out what sort of task he was likely to face with his real best friend.

"It's probably stupid or overconfident of me, but I'm not really worried about getting hurt in the task, whatever it is. I means so far the only things that have been able to hurt be at all are Unforgivables, a giant basilisk, and a super stronger than me. I doubt we will be asked to face those because the others champions would likely fail against them as well." Harry and Hermione were working in their normal 'secret' classroom. Hermione had managed to get Madam Pince to allow her to take out what few books there were on the history of the Tournament, with the understanding that if Cedric needed them the books were to be returned.

"I don't know. You can't assume that the tasks will be calibrated to make sure that the champions can succeed or even survive. The Tournament was discontinued because of the high fatality rate among the contestants."

"Are you seeing any pattern in the types of tasks in the past?"

"Not really. There have been duels and direct combat, against magical creatures, other wizards, and the other champions. There have been puzzles and quests, with various dangers to overcome. There have been tests of magical strength, speed, even pure knowledge; always with a dangerous consequence for failure. Pretty much it could be anything."

"Right. Than back to basics and see how far ahead we can get in the Charms, Defense, and Transfiguration books."

"Alright. We can concentrate on various general use spells. How about we start with the Water Jet Spell. You said it would have been useful over the summer."

During the weighting of the wands Harry had the opportunity to meet with Rita Skeeter, who had written some pretty horrible things about him after the World Cup. He refused an interview with her, even when she tried to physically drag him in to a broom cupboard. Her hand caressing his arm left him feeling unclean. The Prophet the next day was another hatchet job. _I'm beginning to understand how Spider-man feels. I wonder if she is ay relation to J. Jonah Jameson._ Harry thought after reading Skeeter's article.

Harry had been spending some of his off time with Hagrid, helping out with the various large animals and doing grounds keeping in the Forbidden Forest. He had even discovered the big man's rock cakes were pretty tasty if you could actually chew them. Harry was the largest student among the three schools and was still growing quickly. He was up to 6'7" and at 840 lbs. he outweighed his friend by a good bit. He started feeling more comfortable in Hagrid's world. Even Madame Maxine was friendly to the large lad. One night Hagrid showed Harry four dragons that were part of the First Task.

"Wow! They're incredible." Harry gushed. He found the reptilian giants fascinating. Several times over the next week he came back to the clearing under his invisibility cloak. He watched the way they moved, the feeling of barely restrained strength and violence. He wished he could see them flying free as he knew they were meant to be. Hermione was less happy to discover that they would be facing dragons. "So much for the organizers not setting the bar too high."

During his time watching the great beasts, Harry noticed Karkaroff and Maxine both showing the dragons to their champions. He never saw Cedric, or anyone that might pass the word to him. So after lunch a few days before the task, Harry pulled the Hufflepuff champion aside and told him what they would be facing.

Early on the morning of November 24th, Harry got up and went for a walk around the Castle. It was cool and clear. It looked like a good day for the crowd. He continued to consider his strategy. He did not know if they would have to fight the dragons directly or if they were to be an obstacle in some sort of test or quest. He had no desire to hurt the giant creatures. When he watched them interact with Charlie and the other trainers, he could not tell just how intelligent the dragons were. He knew enough of magic to know that he could not judge their intelligence on their form. The Acromantulas, at least Aragog, seemed sentient. On the other hand just because he could talk to snakes did not mean they were people. How much was innate and how much was the temporary effect of magic was hard to say. It was somewhat confusing.

What it meant today was that he did not want to hurt the dragons, much less kill them. He was not sure that he would be immune to dragon fire, so he practiced with the Flame Freezing Charm and the Water Jet Spell. He would also make sure to cast the Unbreakable Charm on his robes once he was in the arena. He thought it likely that the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak would hold the dragon, at least temporarily, but he had promised not to use sorcery. He would have to wing it.

Harry, of course, drew the most dangerous of the dragons - the Hungarian Horntail. _I'm glad we don't have to kill the dragon for the task. They are only an obstacle to getting the egg._ Harry thought as he walked into the arena. He was the last contestant, but had no chance to see how the others had managed their dragons. As he entered the arena he saw it was a large sand field, strewn with rocks and boulders. The dragon was chained to her nest with some unknown amount of leeway in the chains. She was crouched low with her wings half unfurled protectively.

She spotted him as soon as he came through the gate. Her eyes never left him as he took out his wand and started casting Unbreakable Charms on his clothes and cloak. It was not his invisibility cloak. Instead it was just a plain hooded leather cloak that would take spells easily. Looking around he knew he had three basic choices. He could try to distract the dragon, hoping to take the egg by stealth and trickery. He could try to incapacitate the dragon, allowing him access to the egg while the mother was unable to defend it. Or he could rely on his invulnerability and ignore the dragon, taking the egg despite her defense of it. He hoped that negotiation might be a forth option so he cast a sonorous on himself and spoke directly to the dragon. "Can you understand me Great Mother?"

The dragon roared in response to the amplified voice.

"I mean you and your eggs no harm. You have a false egg in your nest."

Again there was no sign of comprehension.

"Oh well," Harry sighed, "It was worth a try." He decided to try to distract the dragon with a giant dancing pineapple. Transfiguring a stone into the fruit, charming it to grow, and levitating it just has he had during his First Year end of term exams, Harry got a reaction from the audience. But not from the dragon.

Next Harry tried levitating a large rock, big enough for him to hide behind. His magical strength was just enough to counter the weight of the small boulder, allowing him to use his hands to move it about. Realistically he could have juggled the stone without his magic, but he was trying to not use his powers. He used it as a shield as he darted from one boulder to another closing on the nest. The dragon spouted a gout of flame that licked at the stone shield. Harry could feel the heat, but not bad enough to stop him.

The young wizard was able to get close enough to be just out of reach of the dragon. He started casting Stunning Spells at the great beast's head. For ten minutes Harry cast stunner after stunner. No single spell was particularly powerful, but he was able to keep casting one every three to five seconds for ten minutes. He was aiming for her mouth when it opened or for her eyes when it was not, trying to bypass her armored scales. She returned fire, though at a much slower rate. Harry's stone shield was glowing bright hot by the end of five minutes. He was no longer touching the boulder, or even levitating it. He periodically hit it with an Unbreakable Charm. Eventually the dragon seemed to run out of flame and finally to run out of energy. She settled onto her nest, covering the eggs completely.

"Well that's just my luck." Harry muttered. Not realizing that he was still amplified, he was shocked when the audience laughed. The crowd had heard every spell he had cast. Shrugging, Harry tried levitating the dragon. It did not work. Finally, he used the _Gouging Spell to dig out the ground beneath the nest. Periodically he would re-stun the dragon to keep her asleep. Eventually he was able to reach the golden egg. Twenty-five minutes after he had entered the arena, he left._ _And I didn't hurt the dragon or the eggs._

 _The judges were kind to him, but did not think his use of low level spells was worth more than fourth place. Ron found him after the event and apologized for being a prat. "Harry," he said, very seriously, "whoever put your name in that goblet - I - I reckon they're trying to do you in!" So Harry forgave him and Hermione cried at them both for being stupid boys. Sirius was there to make sure Harry was alright and to congratulate him on his performance._

 _"Nothing that seemed too out of place," Sirius reported. "I think your repeated use of the Unbreakable Charm may keep too many people from wondering how you came out unscathed. The only thing I've been hearing people surprised about is your stamina. And that's usually a good thing."_

 _December started out cold, windy, and wet. It made Care of Magical Creature class particularly unpleasant for most of the students. Harry, on the other hand, did not notice the weather and was beginning to share Hagrid's affection for the Blast-Ended Skrewts. December also brought the announcement of the Yule Ball and the expectation that Harry would open the Ball by dancing with his date. Both those words, dancing and date, struck Harry with significantly more consternation that finding out he would be facing a dragon had._

It was amazing how many girls Hogwarts suddenly seemed to hold. Harry had never quite noticed them before. Girls giggling and whispering in the corridors, girls shrieking with laughter as boys passed them, girls excitedly comparing notes on what they were going to wear to the Ball. Harry realized that each had the amazing super power that could easily defeat his supposed invulnerability. They could shoot him down in flames should he dare ask any one out, and he would crumple up and die from embarrassment.

"Listen, you're not going to have any trouble. You're a champion. You've just beaten a Hungarian Horntail. I bet they'll be queuing up to go with you." In tribute to their recently repaired friendship, Ron had kept the bitterness in his voice to a bare minimum. Moreover, to Harry's amazement, he turned out to be quite right.

A curly-haired third-year Hufflepuff girl to whom Harry had never spoken to in his life asked him to go to the ball with her the very next day. Harry was so taken aback he said no before he had even stopped to consider the matter. The girl walked off looking rather hurt. Harry realized that shooting-down-in-flames was a power shared by both boys and girls. And like Spider-man had said _"With great power comes great responsibility."_ Harry realized he felt bad he had hurt the girl. Later he found out her name was Portia Stebbins. He promised to do something nice for her.

Sirius suggested by owl mail that Harry decide whether he wanted to ask Hermione or not first. If not, then he had three schools of possible choices. But if he did, he should do it before someone else realized she was a cute, smart girl and asked her first. Harry realized there were a lot of cute girls but Hermione was both is best friends and the one that knew him and understood him the best.

"Hermione," Harry said as they were finishing breakfast that Saturday. "Can I talk with you for a minute?"

"Sure, let me get my books packed. Do you want to go to the training room?"

"Are you up for a walk outside?"

"Let me get my jacket." Harry transfigured a serviette into a thick, wooly cloak and added Warming and Impervious Charms to make it weather proof. It was cold out, but sunny. She smiled and muttered "Thinking like a wizard."

"Hermione, would you go to the Ball with me?" They were walking along a path in the snow leading to the greenhouses. The young witch stopped and looked up into her friends green eyes.

"Are you asking as a friend or …"

"I think I am asking as a friend. I don't know if I am ready for anything more yet."

"So why do you want to take me to the Ball?"

"Because you _are_ my best friend. And you're cute and smart and brave and a very special girl. That last part's becoming more and more important. I would rather spend the time with you than with anyone else."

"What about Ron?"

"Have you seen his robes?"

She actually giggled. "No, I mean how will Ron take this?"

"I don't know. I don't want to cater to his jealousy in everything I do. I would say we should all go as friends, but Professor McGonagall tells me I have to have a date for dinner and dancing. I don't think that can be Ron. Even if it could be, I'd rather it be you."

"Okay. I'd be happy to go with you." Hermione hugged Harry's arm. After that, when other girls asked Harry he was able to truthfully say he already had a date. He was even able to fix Ron up with Portia.

Harry and Hermione had fun at the Ball. Hermione's dress let everyone know she was not only a girl, she was a pretty one. Hermione enjoyed dinner at the head table with the other champions, their dates, and the judges. She was able to talk education and politics with the professionals while Harry talked Quidditch with the five players (including Davies and Bagman). He found he had to use his occlumency when around Fleur for so long. Once the dancing started Harry proved to be less than nimble. He was particularly concerned with stepping on or bumping into anyone. With his weight he could crush bones.

"Hermione, would you mind if I sat out the next few dances? It's not that I don't want to dance with you. I'm just really worried about hurting you, or someone else. You're welcome to dance with other guys if you want to."

"I'll sit out with you. Shall we go talk with Ron?" The rest of the evening they talked with Ron and their other friends. Neville had come with Ginny. Dean and Seamus had come with Parvati and Lavender. Portia and Ginny brought over a little blonde girl named Luna who had come with a Durmstrang student named Dag. The three third years spent time talking about their classes and classmates. All in all it was a pleasant evening.

The next morning most of the Hogwarts students boarded the Express to go home for the remainder of the holiday. Hermione was going to her parents and Harry to stay with Sirius in London.


	13. Chapter 13

**Unstoppable!**

 **Chapter Thirteen**

Harry enjoyed spending a late Christmas with Sirius. The old dog spent half the time in his canine form running around Hyde Park with Harry. They had a very nice dinner out with Professor Lupin and a family called Tonks that were cousins of some sort. "We're your cousins too, Harry," said Andromeda Tonks. "Your grandmother was Dorea Black. Her brother was my grandfather. That makes us second cousins, whereas Sirius and I are first cousins."

"And I'm once removed, from both of you," said the Tonks' daughter who insisted on being on being addressed by her last name. Her mother, of course, refused this and called her Nymphadora. Harry admitted this was not most dulcet of names, but he could imagine worse. Her dad just called her Bunbun. The dinner was tasty. They were eating in normal London, at a Belgian restaurant. Harry was not sure if he liked the chips with mayonnaise instead of vinegar, or ketchup like they had in the States. They were all comfortable outside the wizarding world.

"I was born in this world," Ted Tonks said when Harry questioned their familiarity with the real world. "My parents were professors at Sheffield University. I ended up studying law there after I got out of Hogwarts. I work in both worlds. But we live normally."

"Yeah," Tonks, or Bunbun, agreed. They were avoiding the word magic or the term 'wizarding world'. "I was raised pretty much normal until I got my Hogwarts letter. I mean I had friends and some family in both worlds, But I stayed mostly in this one. I even remember meeting you when you were a baby. We visited your parents once or twice."

"When Sirius and I were kicked out of the Black Family, Andromeda said, "They spread the word to their friends and allies that we were _personae non grata_ throughout the country, so we didn't have a lot of places to go in that world that would accept us. It took a while for each of us to adjust, but I had Ted. And Sirius …"

"… Had your mother," he finished. "She helped both me and your father to adjust to this world. I don't see any reason to be confined to just one world. After Azkaban I never want to be confined again."

"Do a lot of people live in both worlds, or even in just the normal world?" Harry asked.

"Screw it," Mr. Tonks said and subtly cast s few privacy charms. "A lot of muggleborn, though I prefer the term newblood or first generation. Anyway many newbloods, maybe even most, end up leaving the wizarding world when they graduate because there's a lot of discrimination against them in many areas. It's not legal, for the most part, but that doesn't make the barriers less real." Mr. Tonks explained. "When I got out of Hogwarts I applied for several jobs in the Ministry. I was told that the only positons open to me were clerical or custodial. The Aurors are known to hire newbloods but I didn't have the right NEWTS."

"I've often lived in the muggle world because of my curse," Professor Lupin added. "The discrimination against my kind is set in law, and more such laws are being passed each year. I've had a lot of different jobs here since Hogwarts, as well as picking up some education, both formal and less so. Right now I am working as a private investigator for Ted's law firm, as well as a few other clients. I preferred teaching, but that avenue is no longer open to me."

"So if I decide I want to live mostly in the normal world, you'd not be disappointed?" Harry asked Sirius.

"You don't have the same reasons we all did driving you from the wizarding world, but if it's your choice to live mostly muggle I'd not mind as long as we can still see each other. But that's not a decision you'll have to make for a while yet."

 _I think I've already made it,_ Harry mused.

On New Year's Eve, Harry got a message on the crystal ball from Doctor Strange. "Doctor! You're back!"

"Harry it's good to see you. I have little time. Are you in Britain?"

"Yes, London."

"Good. Are you willing to help stop an invasion from another dimension? I need your assistance right now."

"Yes, of course."

"Change into your costume and be ready. I'll open a portal for you in three minutes." Harry rushed into the kitchen where Sirius was seated.

"I have to go out for a bit. A friend needs help. I don't know how long I'll be but…"

"Like hell, Harry. You can't just rush out like this. Tell me more."

"Doctor Strange needs my help. He says it is to stop and invasion from a different dimension. I don't know who's invading, but if Doc says it's serious then it is. I have to go."

"Okay, then I'm coming with you."

"Your choice." Harry switched in to this Bastion costume. He then grabbed a newspaper from the table and transfigured it into a costume with a cowl and trenchcoat. The outfit was black with grey question marks on it. "Put this on. Union rules say you need to hide your identity."

"Great!" Sirius quipped as he switched in the costume. "I love fancy dress balls." Right on time a portal opened in front of them. Harry stepped through followed immediately by Sirius. They came out on the crest of a small hill in the middle of an open plain. In the near distance stood Stonehenge. It was night but the area was light by an artificial sun. There was a crowd of costumed men and women all around. They were mostly unfamiliar to Harry, but he recognized a few.

He saw Captain Britain standing next to a blond woman in a green costume, a young brunette in a light blue, a red head in a red costume, and a blue furred demonic looking fellow. Harry thought they were a British hero team called Excalibur. There were several other British heroes. Union Jack was recognizable from history books, as was his female companion Spitfire. Harry thought the bald mystic in red with the blue cloak was probably Dr. Druid, whom the Sorcerer Supreme had mentioned as a possible mentor for Harry. There were a number of others Harry did not recognize. They were all looking to Doctor Strange as he floated above the top of the hill.

"I have gathered heroes from across Britain, as Dormammu has mystically sealed the island. No one may enter or leave the country until this battle is ended. At precisely midnight local time Dormammu will attempt to open a portal to this world and flood it with mindless ones, monsters, and minions. I need you to stop the creatures from spreading beyond this plain. If they do, they may cause untold damage to our world. I will go into his world to do battle with the Dread Lord directly. I'll not be able to close the portal until either he is defeated or dawn brakes. We have a long and difficult fight ahead, but the world is counting on you. Good luck." With that Doctor Strange faded away.

"What is all this," Sirius asked Harry quietly. All around them people were talking within their groups. "Who are these people?"

"Superheroes," Harry said. "People with great power who fight to protect others and the world. Doctor Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme of this plane of existence. He's fighting a powerful sorcerer from another dimension who apparently wants to take over this one. I don't know what the mindless ones are or what sort of monsters may be coming." Harry reached into his bottomless belt pouch, pulled out his invisibility cloak, and handed it to Sirius.

"Use this. Stay away from the monsters. I don't know if your magic will work on the things coming. If not try to support the heroes where you can. Healing and distractions would probably be best."

"Teach your grandmother to brew butterbeer, pup. I've been fighting since before you were born."

"Maybe, but if things go bad, get away."

"Not without you." Sirius looked around. "Where are the Aurors? If this is a magical battle, why isn't anyone from the Ministry here?"

"Don't know. . ."

"May I have your attention please?" Captain Britain's voice carried across the field. According to Doctor Strange's announcement we only have twenty minutes to organize. I don't know all of you. Might I suggest one person from each group come together so we can discuss strategy. Doctor Druid is probably the best known mystic here. I suggest he take the lead."

Harry joined the gathering group. It turned out there were four groups and several pairs or singletons represented. Captain Britain took charge of the frontline fighters. Albion was given command of the distance fighters. Doctor Druid organized of the mystics and telepaths. Harry joined the frontlines. He was hesitant to use either his wand or his sorcery in Britain as he did not know how the Ministry would react. Sirius joined the mystics. Harry heard him introduce himself as Mister Enigma. Captain Britain simply asked each person their preferred combat mode and suggested that the heavy hitters concentrate on the mindless ones and bottling up the gate. The lighter, faster fighters were tasked with stopping smaller invaders and or using hit and run tactics. In the end their was Harry, Captain Britain, a large blue Hulk-like fellow called Wallop, a young kid called the Crimson Crusader , and an armored man called Sir Gawain who would stand in front of the portal and try to stem the flow. The others would attack around them or hit those that got through.

At midnight a rift opened between two of the standing stones and a horde of lumpy grey stone-like humanoids with a single eye in their faceless heads came pouring out. Red beams shot from their eyes. The creatures crashed into the front line of heroes and knocked them back several steps with the force of the impact. Behind the first wave of cyclopses came a number of dog sized spiders and small black ape like creatures. Above them flew creatures that looked to be mostly wings with no body. These smaller, more agile creatures quickly made their way around the front line fighters and began to attack the next line of resistance.

As the battle began, Harry started to move. He was more effective as long as he was moving. Even the mindless ones, as he heard Captain Britain calling the large brutes, could not knock him back if he was moving. Harry grabbed one of the stony figures and lifted him over his head. The red beam shot from his captive's eye and hit him full in the face. He was momentarily blinded but still managed to use the creature as a battering ram to knock several other monsters back through the portal. Beside him he saw the other heroes battling their foes.

"Step Back!" yelled a voice. Harry started moving backwards as Albion led two other fliers to lay down three lines of fire before the portal. Several of the smaller creatures were destroyed. But the next wave of mindless ones marched through the flames.

The battle raged throughout the night. Time and again Harry would face mindless ones, ice moneys, razor wings, and shadow spiders. He felt the blows of the mindless brutes the most. If they caught him standing still a single blow could send him flying back a dozen yards. He always got up and marched back in the fight. Occasionally he would catch glimpses of the other fighters. He marveled at the speed and grace of Spitfire or the woman in green. The magic unleashed by Doctor Druid and the power of the Phoenix were awesome. Union Jack and Captain Midlands fought with skill and determination, while the big guy with way too many guns seemed a little crazy. He caught occasional glimpses of Sirius popping around the battlefield casting everything from blasting curses to dancing jinxes. At one point he was sure he saw Professor Lupin and that Tonks girl.

Sometime before dawn the portal collapsed, snapping shut so fast a mindless one and a razor wing were sliced in half. Harry and those others still standing fought on until the last of the invaders had been destroyed. Moans and sighs filled the plain. Looking around, Harry saw that almost all of the thirty original combatants were injured. Costumes were torn. Weapons lay broken or abandoned. And the crushed and blasted bodies of the invaders littered the grass. Harry started looking for Sirius. After some minutes he found him in a makeshift field hospital near the tourist buildings by the road. The older wizard was casting healing charms on a dark skinned woman in a red costume. It looked like her foot had been frozen by one of the ice monkeys. Harry did spot Remus Lupin in one of the make shift beds with a nasty slice along one arm.

"Mooney, What are you doing here?" Harry asked. He made sure not to use the wizard's real name. _Too many levels of secrecy around here_ , he thought.

"I went to get reinforcements about an hour into the battle," Sirius came over and laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, for the most part," Harry reassured him. "Reinforcements?"

"I went to the Ministry to call for Aurors. Rufus Scrimgeour told me the Minister had decided that, according to the Concord of Separation, this was a muggle matter and that the Ministry couldn't get involved." Sirius shook his head. "They wouldn't do anything. Moony and Cousin Pink decided to join me. But that was it."

"You'll have to tell me about this Concord thingy some time," Harry said. Before anyone could respond Doctor Strange appeared. He looked like he had been through a battle, torn and bloodied.

"It is done. The invasion has been averted. You cannot know how important your courage and determination have been. You have, quite literally, saved the world. Though the world may never know it. You have my gratitude." With that he collapsed.

Spitfire was there to catch him before he hit the ground. She had him on a conjured cot and began checking his wounds. "He'll be alright. He's exhausted and has taken quite a few injuries, but his powers are already beginning to heal him. I'll take him to Falsworth Manor to recover." She lifted the sorcerer in her arms and sped away.

"Guess that leaves us to find our own way home," quipped a young man in a battered business suit. Captain Britain, Doctor Druid, and Albion started organizing transpiration for the remaining heroes. Sirius tried to apparate with Harry, but the large lad was too heavy. So they caught a ride to London with Shift, the teleporter on the Genetix team. Once in London, Harry switched out of his Bastion costume and ended the transfiguration of Sirius' Enigma costume. The two wizards caught the tube to near Sirius' flat.

"That was … amazing, intense, insane, all of the above," the older wizard said as they settled onto his couch. "That's the world in which you've been spending your summers?"

"Sort of, yeah," Harry agreed. "I've never been in a fight that big, but I've done some stuff like that. A friend once told me that with great power comes great responsibility. I have power now and it would be wrong of me not to use it to help people. I think that's one problem I have with the wizarding world. We all have power, but don't use it to help normal people."

"Yeah, I can see that…" Sirius faded out in mid-sentence, he was so exhausted from the night's work. Harry picked him up and carried his godfather to bed.

Harry met his friends on the Express back to Hogwarts. They shared stories of their holiday, though Harry did not mention the invasion. When they got back to school things went back to normal with classes and training. Cedric gave Harry a clue to the secret of the egg, after which Harry and Hermione opened the egg in the prefects' bath and figured out that something would be taken from him and hidden in the lake. "Well holding my breath for an hour is no problem, but I'll not be able to swim. My weight will force me to jog across the bottom instead. So I should practice jogging to try and build up my speed. You could see if there are any potions or spells that increase movement speed."

"Not that they're likely to work for you."

"One of the many downsides to my condition."

"Still this one should be pretty easy for you."

"There's no real way for me not to use my powers this time. I don't really think it's fair, but I didn't ask to compete. Maybe I can go slowly or something to make sure the others beat me."

It was a cold February day when the crowds gathered by the shore of the lake. Harry was running late because he had been looking for Hermione. Neither Ron nor her roommates had seen her that morning. When he arrived the real champions were already waiting, each wearing a swimsuit.

"Where have you been?" said a bossy, disapproving voice. "The task's about to start!"

Harry looked around. Percy Weasley was sitting at the judges' table - Mr. Crouch had failed to turn up again. Harry ignored him and tried to see if Hermione was watching from the stands. He could not find her. When he saw that each of the others were also scanning the crowds he asked Cedric, "Who are you looking for?"

"Cho. I've net seen her all morning." Cedric replied.

"I was afraid of that. I think they took people instead of things."

"Yeah."

"I haf not seen Dafnee either," Krum added.

"Nor I _ma soeur_ ," Fleu's accent thickened in her distress.

"We'll get them back, screw the tournament." Harry stated. "Work together if you can. Whoever gets there first make sure all the … hostages, I guess, get freed. This is no longer a contest, it's a rescue mission."

Cedric and Fleur nodded in agreement. Krum looked thoughtful. When Bagman started the clock Harry rushed in to the water at a fast jog. He could not keep up the speed as his feet sank deep in to the mud with each step. His power protected him from the cold and alleviated his need to breath. It even diminished the amount the mud and much could slow him down. But slow him it did. He saw Krum, half transfigured in to a shark, pass him by. _Why the front half? He can breathe that way, but it probably slows his swimming?_ Fleur and Cedric swam by with BubbleHead Charms in place. Harry tried to jog faster.

He pulled his wand and cast a Point-me Charm to find Hermione. The wand spun then settled pointing a bit to the left of the direction he was moving. He changed direction until he was moving in the most direct line to his friend. As he moved through a forest of water plants he was attacked my grindylows. There was a sizable swarm, but Harry just ignored them and concentrated on moving quickly. The giant squid floated nearby but chose not to attack. Eventually he heard the voices of the merfolk. It grew louder as he neared their village.

A choir of merpeople was singing in the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson. Harry saw Shark-Krum gnawing at the rope that tied Daphne to the statue while Cedric and Fleur were trying to convince the surrounding merpeople to lend them a spear or knife. Harry smashed the tail of the statue, leaving the ropes as tethers that the champions could easily use to drag their friends back to the shore. The merfolk were shocked at the destruction.

Cedric and Fleur grabbed their friends, or in the French champions case her sister. Harry asked them to grab Hermione as well while he repaired the statue. Once he was done they started back towards the shore. Harry expected them to swim away as Krum had done. Instead they stayed with Harry as he slogged back through the mud. Harry held all three tethers in his hand and the three somnambulant witches bobbed behind him like balloons.

They were approached by grindylows but Cedric and Fleur, who had both hands free managed to cast hexes that drove the water demons away. As they neared the shore, each champion took their hostage and they came out of the water together. Harry deliberately lagged behind once Hermione's head was above water. She started breathing once she was exposed to air.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked. She lay her head against his shoulder and started shivering.

"I'm cold and wet. Not the best thing for February in Scotland." Her voice was quivering. Once Cedric and Fleur had made it to shore, Harry followed quickly. Madam Pomfrey came out with potions and blankets. For the competitors and the hostages. Harry waved her off but made sure Hermione was bundled up. After he saw her into the healer's tent, where they found Krum with a shivering Daphne, Harry turned and approached the Headmaster.

"Sir, were the others told before they chose to enter this tournament that they would be putting their friends and family in danger by doing so?"

"I assure you, my boy, that the hostages were in no real danger."

"So the grindylows would not have attacked them or they might not have frozen half to death in the cold winter water? I think your definition of safe is different than mine. I just hope you got the permission of all these minors' parents before tossing them in the lake as bait. Or was this another example of the magical contract of the Goblet of Slavery?" Harry's voice rose with every question. By the end he was screaming. At the end he turned on his heal and stalked back into the healer's tent. He did not stay for his scores.


	14. Chapter 14

**Unstoppable!**

 **Chapter Fourteen**

The Spring passed relatively uneventfully. Harry, with Hermione's help, continued to study ahead, trying to prepare both for the Tournament and for any other emergencies which might arise. The two friends spent less time with Ron as he had no desire to join in their extracurricular studying. The young redhead was also involved in his first romance, with the young Hufflepuff he had taken to the Yule Ball, Portia Stebbins. The relationship took up most of Ron's spare time. This left Harry and Hermione to grow closer.

"I can't believe you got to meet so many heroes. From those that you can name or describe, I think you met most of the superheroes currently active in Britain." Hermione got very excited when talking about supers. It was an aspect of her personality that Harry found endearing. He was finding more and more about his bushy-haired best friend endearing. "And Sirius got to actually put on a costume to fight alongside you and them."

"From his letters he's continued to adventure as Mister Enigma," Harry replied as he repaired the targeting dummies they had just destroyed practicing Blasting Curses. "He's looking for ways to use items and wandless magic like apparition and his animagus form to disguise what he's doing to avoid running afoul of the Statute of Secrecy."

"I think he should be just as worried about this Concord of Separation. I'd never heard of it before Sirius you mentioned it."

"Did you find anything about it in the library?"

"Only in one book that I think was mis-shelved from the Restricted Section. It seems that during World War II the magical forces fighting Grindelwald got mixed up with the superheroes fighting Hitler and HYDRA. After some conflict the Ministry of Magic and Churchill's government came to an agreement that kept superhuman and wizarding worlds separate. Even if the super threat is magical, the wizarding world would not get involved. Nor would supers get involved in wizarding conflicts. That's why no supers tried to stop Voldemort and the Death Eaters, he is considered a wizarding problem. And Dormammu is considered a super problem."

"I'll say" Harry quipped. Hermione giggled and swatted his shoulder.

Harry still participated during classes. His private studies helped him stay ahead and the teachers were all noticing, except of course for Snape. During a DADA class Harry and the others were practicing Cutting Curses Harry was hit by a stray spell. It was a slightly different color than the rest of the curse being cast. Rather than bouncing or hitting with no effect, the curse actually cut Harry's shoulder. He bled for only a moment before his skin closed on its own. "Ow!" Harry yelped. It had been a while since anything had actually drawn his blood. He was more surprised than hurt and the cut had already healed without a trace.

"Sorry!" Neville cried. The clumsy Gryffindor was looking at his wand as if he had never seen it before.

"Pretty powerful casting there, Nev," Harry said to cheer his friend. "Now you should work on targeting." _And I should remember that I am not invulnerable._ Harry thought.

"Back to work everyone," Professor Moody barked and the class obeyed.

The time of the Third Task finally arrived. The morning of the Task the families of the champions gathered in the side chamber off the Great Hall to greet their children. Harry knew the Dursleys would not be there and wondered who would be. Cedric and his parents were just inside the door. Viktor Krum was over in a corner, conversing with his dark-haired mother and father in rapid Bulgarian. He had inherited his fathers hooked nose. On the other side of the room, Fleur was jabbering away in French to her mother. Fleur's little sister, Gabrielle, was holding her mother's hand. She waved at Harry, who waved back, grinning. Then he saw not only Sirius, but Tonks and Remus as well.

"Professor Dumbledore thought you should have family here," his Godfather said, smiling.

They greeted each other and Harry put up with his hair being tousled by Tonks and straightened by Remus. Fleur Delacour, Harry noticed, was eyeing Sirius with great interest over her mother's shoulder. Harry could tell she had no objection whatsoever to the somewhat older man's bad boy image.

Harry took them around the room to introduce his visitors to the champions. The champions, in turn introduced their families. After a bit Sirius offered to take everyone on a tour of the castle, Marauder style. Fleur convinced her family to come. Cedric and Krum seemed to be eyeing Tonks and agreed to follow along. At first Mr. Diggory seemed reluctant to talk with Harry, but Cedric pulled his father aside and spoke with him. Afterwards he seemed friendlier. Mr. and Mrs. Diggory added their own recollections from their time before the Marauders. Even Tonks had a few more recent stories. She had been a seventh year when Harry was a firstie. Krum and Fleur gave tours of the Durmstrang ship and Beauxbatons carriage. They all had an enjoyable morning. At lunch the champions split up.

Sirius and company joined the Gryffindor table for the meal. Harry, Hermione, Neville and the Weasleys all joked and laughed with the older set for the entire meal. Afterwards Sirius pulled Harry aside for some last minute strategizing. "You know whoever entered you into the Tournament will have to strike during this event. If they'd hoped to kill you off during the prior tasks, they failed. This's their last chance. So be careful. Be on guard. And if it comes down to you or them, be ruthless and come back."

"Come on, Sirius. It's not like they can hurt me."

"Don't fool yourself. Remember the World Cup. You were knock flat out by a single Killing Curse. You survived, but you were helpless while you were unconscious. Who knows what multiple AKs might do to you. Don't get cocky kid."

"Okay. I'll be careful."

At dinner Harry saw all the judges, except for Percy or Mr. Crouch, at the high table. The Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge was seated next to the Headmaster. "Why is he there?" Harry asked.

"I got a letter from my mum. She said the Ministry wants to keep Mr. Crouch's disappearance quiet," Ron whispered. "They're not letting Percy fill in for Mr. Crouch as the fifth judge tonight. Cornelius Fudge is going to be doing it."

Finally Dumbledore rose to his feet at the staff table, and silence fell. "Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now."

Harry and the others followed the former Beater to the stadium. They waited outside the entrance to the maze while the stands began to fill.

"Come here for a minute, Potter," called Professor Moody from under the nearest stands. Harry trotted over. The professor put his arm around Harry and turned his back to the crowd. "You need to win this thing."

"I'm not worried about winning. I never wanted to be in this."

"You don't understand, boy," the former auror's voice turned cold. "Look at the top of the Gryffindor stands." Harry turned and looked up. He saw Neville and Ron standing behind a seated Hermione at the back of the risers. Moody signaled and Neville pulled back his sleeve to show he had a dagger pressed against Hermione's throat. Ron had his wand pointed at the back of her head. Looking closely, Harry saw that all three had the blank look of an Imperious victim. He spun to face Moody.

"If you attack me, she dies instantly, by her friend's hands." Moody stepped back and showed his own wand was already in his hand. "If you say anything or try to rescue her, she dies. If you don't compete in the task, she dies. And if you don't win, she dies."

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Harry demanded. He knew there was no way he could reach his friends before they could kill Hermione. He so wanted to rip this man's head off, but that would cost Hermione her life as well.

"I'm my Master's most faithful servant. I do his bidding and he wants you to win. You know it's a trap, but will you risk your friends or will you sacrifice yourself like your mother did?" Moody was slowly waving his wand while speaking. Harry knew he would give anything to protect his friends.

"I'll go. But if you hurt them, nothing will stop me from destroying you." Harry marched away, knowing that the DADA professor was watching him and could signal Hermione's death if Harry did not do as he had been told.

Bagman called the start of the task. It was a race to the center of the maze. Whoever touched the trophy first, won. Because Harry was behind in points he was the last to start. The others all had at least three minutes on him. The young wizard did not care. He was going to win the race and nothing would stop him. When Bagman called Harry's name he took off at a trot. The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and thick or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment he entered the maze. Harry felt almost as though he were underwater again.

Rather than turn right or left, Harry plowed forward through the first hedge. He felt the magic resisting him, but it could not overcome his own power. On the other side of the greenery Harry found all three of his friends' ripped and torn bodies lying in a growing pool of blood. He screamed and knelt to try and staunch their massive wounds. When he touched Hermione, the bodies and blood seemed to peel off the ground, like they were a 3D image on a blanket. The boggart, for that is what Harry realized it was, enveloped him. He could feel teeth tearing at him in the darkness. "No!" He screamed and flung his arms out with all his strength. He tore through shapeless creature, which vanished in a puff of grey, oily smoke. "Can't stop," Harry muttered and started running through the next hedge.

This time there was nothing but another hedge on the other side; a hedge he quickly ran through. On the other side of this he found Fleur facing a blast-ended skrewt. Harry new this animal. He had helped raise it. He also knew it was pretty much a mindless eating machine that only Hagrid could love. Without stopping he grabbed the skrewt and tossed it over the hedge off to the left. He yelled to the French witch, "Don't follow!" Then he crashed through the next hedge.

Two more hedges put him face to face with a sphinx. The sentient creature recognized him, calling out "Juggernaut!" She then leapt back, out of his way as he continued through the hedges. The acromantula he came across also avoided him, remembering him from their earlier encounter. In less than three minutes Harry found himself at the center of the maze. In the near distance he could hear the sounds of at least one of the other champions facing the maze's challenges. He was tempted to go and help, but remembered he had to win to free his friends. So he grabbed the Triwizard Cup.

He felt a tug on his center and willed himself to allow the portkey to whisk him away. He wanted to be where it would take him. Harry felt his feet slam into the ground; he was unbalanced and he fell forward. He let go of the Triwizard Cup and raised his head to look around him. It was obvious he was no longer anywhere on the Hogwarts grounds. Even the mountains surrounding the castle were gone. He were standing instead in a dark and overgrown graveyard; the black outline of a small church was visible beyond a large yew tree to his right. A hill rose above the cemetery. Harry could just make out the outline of a fine old house on the hillside.

It was dark. Before Harry had the opportunity to cast a Light Spell, he heard several voices call out _"Avada Kedavra!"_ and multiple green jets impacted his back and sides. Harry's world closed down.

He woke chained to a marble headstone. He was surrounded by figures in black hooded robes and silver masks. They all had their wands pointed at him. Not ten feet from the bound wizards was a giant cauldron on a burning fire. The whole surface of the water in the cauldron was alight with sparks. It might have been encrusted with vivid, poisonous-looking blue diamonds. A figure wearing Professor Moody's robes was standing over the cauldron a knife clutched in one hand. He was quivering but his voice was steady.

"Flesh of the servant willingly given; you will revive your master." He stretched his right hand out in front of him. He gripped the knife very tightly in his left hand and swung it upward.

Harry realized what the false Moody was about to do a second before it happened. The young wizard closed his eyes as tightly as he could, but he could not block the scream that pierced the night, that went through Harry as though he had been stabbed with the knife too. He heard something fall to the ground, heard the wizard's anguished panting, then a sickening splash, as something was dropped into the cauldron. Harry forced himself to look. The potion had turned a burning red.

The man dragged himself towards Harry, who snapped out of his stupor and shrugged free of the chains binding him. As he took a step forward he heard a familiar voice call out. "Don't move, Potter, or your friend dies."

Harry's head snapped left towards the voice and saw two masked figures holding Hermione by her collar. Both held wands on the young witch.

"No!" Harry called.

"Barty is going to take your blood," the figure said. "Resist all you want. But if you move from that spot, your mudblood dies painfully." Again Harry's instinct was to charge in and tear them to pieces, but he stopped. The one handed man, who Harry now recognized from his time in Dumbledore's pensive as Barty Crouch Junior, stepped forward and chanted, "Blood of the enemy forcibly taken; you will resurrect your foe."

The masked speaker stepped forward and cast a curse at Harry's arm. It sliced into the skin, drawing blood. Crouch stabbed with the knife before the wound closed and drew blood onto the blade. Seconds later the cut healed.

"An old diamond cutting spell, mostly used by jewelers, but it's enough to pierce your skin, half giant." Harry finally recognized the voice as Lucius Malfoy's. Crouch staggered back to the cauldron and flicked the knife so that the blood sprayed in the potion. The liquid within turned, instantly, a blinding white. Crouch, his job done, dropped to his knees beside the cauldron, then slumped sideways and lay on the ground, cradling the bleeding stump of his arm, gasping.

The cauldron was simmering, sending its diamond sparks in all directions, so blindingly bright that it turned all else to velvety blackness. Then, suddenly, the sparks emanating from the cauldron were extinguished. A surge of white steam billowed thickly from the cauldron instead, obliterating everything in front of Harry, so that he couldn't see anything but vapor hanging in the air. Harry, knowing his biggest concern was not what was coming out of the pot; but his friend being held hostage, looked towards Hermione. He reached into the gem in his chest, into this channel with Cyttorak and invoked –

 _Let the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak surge forth,  
seeking the one who is near._

Twin tentacles of crimson energy shot from his wrists and lashed out to find Hermione. They wrapped around her and pulled her from the gasp of the Death Eaters. Harry jerked the bands connecting him with his friend and Hermione flew to him. Again he invoked his patron –

 _As my enemies' blows fall_

 _may your protection never lack -_

 _let the Scarlet Shield call_

 _the peerless power of Cyttorak!_

A red bubble surrounded Harry and Hermione. The Death Eaters started firing curses which bounced off the shield. One reflected curse hit another Death Eater, causing his skin to begin to boil and smoke.

"Stop!" a sibilant voice demanded. Harry's belly clenched. He had hoped to never hear that voice again. All movement and spell casting ceased. All eyes turned to the thin figure revealed stepping out of the cauldron, staring at Harry. The young wizard stared back into the face that had haunted his nightmares for three years. Whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snakes with slits for nostrils. Lord Voldemort had returned.

Voldemort looked away from Harry and began examining his own body. His hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cats, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness. He held up his hands and flexed the fingers, his expression rapt and exultant. "Robe me," said the high, cold voice, and Crouch, moaning lightly, still cradling his mutilated arm, scrambled to pick up the black robes from the ground, got to his feet, reached up, and pulled them one-handed over his master's head. Voldemort slipped one of those unnaturally long-fingered hands into a deep pocket and drew out a wand. He caressed it gently too; and then he raised it, and pointed it at Harry laughing a high, cold, mirthless laugh.

Cries of "Master!" and "The Dark Lord has returned!" rose from around the graveyard. Voldemort nodded and waved his hand regally, accepting the rising tide of adulation as only his due. After a moment he turned to Crouch, who was standing rigidly, his robe wrapped around the still bleeding stump of his wrist.

"My most loyal servant," Voldemort's voice was silky. "You have served me well. Now I shall reward you. Is not your master kind?"

"Oh master, I live to serve."

"And that is what I reward." Voldemort raised his wand and whirled it through the air. A streak of what looked like molten silver hung shining in the wand's wake. Momentarily shapeless, it writhed and then formed itself into a gleaming replica of a human hand, bright as moon light, which soared downward and fixed itself upon Crouch's bleeding wrist.

His breathing harsh and ragged, Crouch raised his head and stared in disbelief at the silver hand, now attached seamlessly to his arm, as though he were wearing a dazzling glove. He flexed the shining fingers, then, trembling, picked up a small twig on the ground and crushed it into powder.

"My Lord," he whispered. "Master ... it is beautiful. . . thank you... thank you. ..."

He scrambled forward on his knees and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes. The Death Eaters around him did the same; each of them approaching Voldemort on his knees and kissing his robes, before backing away and standing up, forming a silent circle, which enclosed Tom Riddle s grave, Harry, Hermione, and Voldemort. They left gaps in the circle, as though waiting for more people. Voldemort, however, did not seem to expect more. He looked around at the hooded faces, and though there was no wind rustling seemed to run around the circle, as though it had shivered.

"Welcome, Death Eaters," said Voldemort quietly. "Thirteen years. . . thirteen years since last we met. Yet you answer my call as though it were yesterday, we are still united under the Dark Mark, then! Or are we?"

"He's monologing!" Hermione whispered. "I didn't think anyone would really do that."

"Hermione, are you alright?" Harry checked over his best friend for injuries. Her eyes were clearing as she spoke.

"I think your shield cut the connection. I can't feel the Imperious anymore."

"Oh Hermione. I'm so sorr…"

"No time Harry. We don't know how long he'll talk." They both paused to listen.

"…proofs of the immensity of my power in the times when I was mightier than any wizard living …"

"Monologing?"

Hermione actually giggled. "It's what we call it on the Net. Anyway. We have to get out of here."

"No. _You_ have to get out of here. I have to stop him. The world can't afford to let him get more powerful."

"I guess I always wanted to be a hero," Hermione murmured. "Do you have your cloak?"

Harry nodded. He reached in to this pouch to pull it out when Hermione stopped him. "I'm going to block us from their sight. Give me the cloak then pretend to have sent me away. I'll be your back up. Ready?" Harry nodded and Hermione cast a spell with which he was unfamiliar – " _Praestidigitus!_ " A puff of opaque white smoke filled the bubble. Harry used a Switching Spell to dress Hermione in the cloak of invisibility. When the smoke cleared it seemed that she had vanished, Harry was waking his wand to complete the illusion " _Evanesco!"_

" … You have disappointed me. ... I expect more faithful service in the future." Voldemort continued, ignoring the shielded captives.

Malfoy saw the smoke and interrupted. "Master … Potter…"

Voldemort spun and glared at Harry. "It is no matter. I no longer need her. And once I have finished with you I will take my time to plot a proper death for one who has managed to annoy me so greatly as that little hand-waving attention whore. I swear there were so many times I almost smacked her during your first year. I was the smartest person in my school years too, but did I make sure everyone – student and teacher alike – had it rubbed in their face every day? No! She's too …"

"Hey!" Harry yelled to get the ranting former teacher's attention. "That's my best friend you're talking about."

"Come on, Potter. Even you have to admit she's insufferable," Riddle argued. Harry was about to say something when he felt a kick from an invisible shoe hit his ankle.

Instead of arguing Harry dropped the shield and charged Voldemort. Several Death Eaters snapped curses at him, but Harry was in motion and nothing could stop him.

The battle was on.


	15. Chapter 15

**Unstoppable!**

 **Chapter Fifteen**

Voldemort apperated out of the path of Harry's charge, leaving him to slam into a tombstone, shattering it. The masked wizards began to rain spells on to the oversized teen. Keeping his feet moving, Harry was able to ignore most of the attacks though he had to dodge the bright green jets. He snatched up a marble headstone to use as a shield from the Killing Curses. It lasted through three. In that time Harry was able to knock several Death Eaters off their feet. He was trying to be careful not to hit them too hard.

Voldemort stayed out of his range. So Harry decided to change tactic. While still moving, he stated firing Disarming and Stunning Charms at the snake-faced wizard. Voldemort was able to easily bat them aside. He tagged Harry with a " _Crucio!"_ which caused the teen to stumble. Harry flung the remnants of his marble shield at Voldemort. The dark wizard tried to shield against the missile but it was too heavy and travelling too quickly. It broke through the shield and caught the desperately dodging wizard on the shoulder. This sent him spinning in to the night.

Harry felt a mist settle over his mind. _There is no need to fight. Just relax and lie down. You are so tired._ Harry felt himself slowing, obeying. Then his elementary occlumency triggered a warning. Someone was trying to control him. Harry gathered his not inconsiderable will and threw out the invader. "No!"

"You can't fight us all, boy," yelled Malfoy.

"I taught you, kid. We know your weaknesses and, together, we're stronger than you," added Crouch Junior.

"Surrender to me, Harry," Voldemort spoke as he stood beside a mausoleum. "You are no light wizard. You call on eldritch powers and have killed with your bare hands. Join me and I will raise you to heights you have never imagined. If you want the girl, you can have her. Her and others like her. Join me or we will kill you and all you know and love."

Harry felt confused. He knew what they were saying was wrong, but it made so much sense. He also knew they were not using the Imperious on him. He did not know what to think. He heard a shouted " _Finite Incantiatum!_ " and suddenly his mind felt clear.

"The girl is still here somewhere!" Malfoy yelled.

"Find her." Voldemort ordered.

Enraged that they would threaten Hermione again, Harry stomped his foot hard on the packed ground, sending a shockwave that knocked most of the Death Eaters off their feet. He followed with a barrage of Blasting Curses, sending half a dozen masked wizards flying. An overpowered " _Sectumsempra!_ " sliced across Harry's chest, leaving a bloody gash.

Harry grabbed Malfoy, who tried to stab him with a poisoned blade, and tossed him into Crouch who was casting another Killing Curse. The green curse missed Lucius, but hit another masked wizard. Harry had stopped holding back as much. The Death Eaters were playing for keeps and he was not immune to all their spells. More importantly Hermione was somewhere and he could not let her get hurt.

Voldemort popped up and cast " _Fiendfyre!"_ A huge gout of flame flowed from his wand and rushed towards Harry. The fire was mutating, forming a gigantic pack of fiery beasts. Flaming serpents, chimaeras, and dragons rose and fell and rose again as it rushed towards him. Harry managed to invoke the Scarlet Shield of Cyttorak in time to block the flames. Denied their target they flowed around him, consuming grass and stone, as well as two Death Eaters that could not get out of the way fast enough. Harry used the dark wizard's concentration to slip a Summoning Charm through. " _Accio Voldemort's wand arm!_ "

The snake faced wizard cried out as his arm was almost wrenched from its socket. He flew toward Harry, barking his shins on several gravestones. Harry dropped his shield and caught Voldemort's arm. Before Harry could do anything the older wizard cast a wandless " _Legilimens!_ " and invaded Harry's mind. Inside they wrestled, the master Legilimens and the apprentice Occlumens. Harry did not have much chance and Voldemort started peeling away Harry's defenses, gaining access to his secrets, and calling forth his greatest shame and fear.

" _Crucio!_ " Hermione's voice was close. The spell hit Voldemort in the back, causing him to cry out in pain. This broke his connection to Harry's mind. The dark lord tried to spin around to find his attacker, but Harry still had hold of his wand arm.

"No more!" Harry cried and squeezed Voldemort's hand with all his strength, crushing both the hand and the wand to pulp. Again the dark lord screamed in anguish. Having finally extinguished the Fiendfyre, the Death Eaters turned their attention back to their master's plight. Dozens of spells lanced at Harry, including several " _Crucios!"_ Harry released his grip, allowing Voldemort to fling himself away. Hermione, crouched between a marble pedestal and Harry, cast her strongest Shield Charm to deflect as much of the barrage as she could. Harry returned fire with several Blasting Curses.

Voldemort took the opportunity to retreat. He turned on his heel and started to apperate away. Harry saw what was happening and invoked his patron's power. As the dark wizard vanished Harry cast -

 _By Cyttorak's Crimson Bands!_

 _I send thee through the unseen door -_

 _Go thou where my spell commands_

 _Fetch he that was here before!_

Crimson chains lashed out of his hands and pierced the air where Voldemort had disappeared. They reached through the magical _ether_ to grab the dark lord and drag him back in mystical bondage. Before Voldemort or his Death Eaters could react Harry chanted –

 _By the power of the Crimson Chaos_

 _In the name of Cyttorak_

 _I banish you to death and beyond_

 _And abjure you to never come back!_

With a great cry Harry yanked the chains tight, crushing the dark lord's new body. The bonds sliced the wizards into bloody chunks. The chains formed a tight knot in front of Harry's chest. The gobbets of Voldemort that splashed to the ground started to evaporate into a crimson mist that was absorbed by the knot of chains at the center of where the wizard had been. The chains pulled out of Harry's hands and spun tighter to form a sphere which then formed a pulsing ruby crystal hanging in the air. The crystal then shrank and disappeared with a near silent 'pop'.

After a moment's silence, the Death Eaters began to scream – "No!" "He killed the Dark Lord!" "Bastard!" and curses began to fly again. Harry ran to the edge of the graveyard where a line of utility poles stood along the side of the road. He pulled a pole from the ground, snapping the wires. He yelled "Get behind me Hermione!"

He felt her hand on his back and a quiet, "I am."

He charged forward, swinging the pole at groups of Death Eaters and whipping the wires like a lash at individuals. He knocked several down, but their compatriots started to disappear, taking the unconscious wizards with them. In moments Harry and Hermione were alone in the ruined graveyard.

Hermione threw off the cloak and raced to hug Harry. Arm in arm, they looked around at the battlefield. They were the only ones left. Harry noticed a large snake crushed under a fallen stone. "Is it over?" he asked.

"I think it is. You vanquished the Dark Lord."

"I don't know …"

"Come on Harry. Surely no one could have survived that."

They looked around for a moment, then heard the warbling sound of a police siren. "We have to get out of here."

"I wonder…"

"What?"

"The Cup. Where's the Triwizard Cup? It was a portkey to get you here. Maybe it can get us back too."

"Hang on." Harry put his arm around Hermione's waist and summoned the Cup. It flew to his hand and as soon as it touched him both teens were yanked through magical space to the stadium at Hogwarts.

The Stadium was empty, except for several aurors in uniform. There were even a few flying air patrol on brooms. Hagrid was also around, moving the last of the creatures from the remains of the maze. He spotted Harry first. " 'arry!" he bellowed. This caught the attention of everyone in a quarter mile. People began to run towards the pair. The groundskeeper got there first and wrapped Harry and Hermione in a great hug. "Yer alrigh'! We've been so worried. You've been gone for hours. Wha' happened?"

Harry pushed free of the half-giant's embrace. He had to be as gentle with Hagrid as Hagrid did with Hermione and the other kids. "We're alright, Hagrid. Just fine, but we need to talk with the Headmaster."

"What's all this then?" came the voice of Harry's least favorite auror, John Dawlish. "Where have you kids been?"

"I'd rather tell the tale only once if possible. I know Professor Dumbledore will want to hear it and if the Minister is around he may as well." Harry tried.

"Don't give me that. We've got a whole shift of aurors looking for you two. Now tell me where you've been."

Harry sighed and held out the Cup. "When I got to the center of the maze someone had made the Cup into a portkey that took me to a cemetery where I was attacked by the same Death Eaters that attacked the World Cup. One of them, a guy named Barty Crouch Junior, kidnapped Hermione here at Hogwarts and they tried to use her as a hostage against me. We fought. Finally we got away. This was a double portkey and got us back here just now."

Everyone looked at him strangely. Hermione looked like she wanted to correct him on all the things he left out. Harry looked in her eyes and shook his head slightly. She looked put out, but nodded fractionally.

"But where were you?" Dawlish insisted.

"I don't know," Harry answered honestly. "There was a graveyard, and a house up on a hill, but other than that I've got no details."

"Harry, my boy," Dumbledore said as he and Professors McGonagall and Snape arrived. "Are you unhurt?"

"We're fine," Harry said, emphasizing Hermione's presence. "This may not be the best place to tell you what happened. Can we go to your office, or at least somewhere more private?"

"Kid, that's no way to talk to the Chief Warlock," Dawlish started, but Dumbledore cut him off.

"That's fine Harry. Let's take this to my office. Mr. Dawlish, thank you for your assistance. I will be sure to let Rufus know you are being so diligent." Dawlish just nodded as the Headmaster led the little group back to his office. Harry and Hermione were drawing lots of looks from the people they past. Harry realized that his clothes were torn, burned, and bloodied. Hermione's were not a lot better. Eventually they reached the gargoyle.

Once inside the office, Professor Dumbledore asked if Harry and Hermione could give their memories for viewing in the pensive. "I have a way of combining and synchronizing the memories of more than one witness to the same event. It offers better detail and more perspectives than those from a single witness." The Headmaster showed them how as neither had ever given a memory, though Harry had seen other memories in this pensive before. Once the silver strands were taken they were combined and set in to the large stone bowl.

"Everyone stick a finger in and we will all view these together. I would suggest we go through once with no commentary or questions. Afterwards, if needed, we can go back through and discuss what we see." So they did.

Harry was surprised that he could tell when Hermione was under the Imperious. Her memories were more clouded. They saw the man that looked like Moody put her, Ron, and Neville under and set up the hostage display in the stands before confronting Harry. As soon as Harry was in the maze, Moody and Hermione left the grounds and apparated to the graveyard. Harry apparently beat them there, but not by much.

He had been rendered unconscious by the waiting Death Eaters. Hermione had seen Harry struck down with several Killing Curses. Then the black-robed bad guys had levitated him in to positon on the tombstone of Thomas Riddle. Crouch had started the lengthy ritual that included preparing the baby homunculus and brewing the potion base. There were two parts of the ritual, the bone of the father and the flesh of the servant, Harry had not been fully cognizant for, though he had seen the disgusting arm-lopping bit.

The professors seemed agitated when Harry started using his sorcerous invocations. When he finally sacrificed Voldemort to Cyttorak Harry could hear their disquiet increase. They exited when the two teens returned to the stadium.

"Harry, you promised not to use sorcery." Dumbledore said sadly.

"I didn't think I had any choice." Harry defended.

"As may be, but there are likely to be significant consequences." The Headmaster replied. "Most of the Death Eaters got away. They may file charges against you with the Ministry. You would have a hard time disproving the evidence the Unspeakables will surely find at the site. I would not be surprised to find they are already investigating. The Trace on Miss Granger's wand will have reported the presence of both underage magic and sorcery."

"But it was all self-defense," objected Hermione. "I've studied both the Statute of Secrecy and the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Magic. Both have self-defense clauses that surely apply here."

"For your wanded and Mr. Potter's wandelss casting, that is likely the case," Professor McGonagall agreed. "But the sorcery Harry used is considered the darkest of magic. Harry sacrificed a person, albeit a truly evil person, to a demon. That too is evil. You should be ashamed, Mr. Potter. I am."

Hermione was speechless at her favorite professor's statements. Harry was enraged. "Different is not evil and Voldemort was already dead. I sent an evil spirit possessing a magical construct back to the afterlife. That's no more evil than a priest performing an exorcism, calling on the power of his god."

"Is Cyttorak your god, Potter? Are you his priest?" Snape snapped.

"No. I've refused to commit myself to his service. He gives me his protection though I've asked him to take it from me. He claims the chaos I wreak is sufficient payment for the level of power he gives me. The invocations I use are the simplest kind. Almost anyone can use them. You don't have to be pledged to him."

"And that's the problem," Professor Dumbledore said. "Anyone can access this level of power, but for more power – and people always want more power – they have to sell their soul. That is evil."

"I disagree," Hermione said. "As Harry said, it's just a different kind of magic. Can it be used for evil? Certainly. Baron Mordo and Doctor Doom are just two examples. But it's a magic that can be used for good. Harry did that. He used it for good."

"Miss Granger, that sounds awfully like You-Know-Who's mantra of 'There is no good or evil, only power …' Surely you don't really think that."

"No, ma'am. And that's not what I said. I said there _is_ evil and good, but it's not in the magic, it's in the person. And Harry _is_ good."

"It's alright, Hermione. If the Headmaster or the Deputy Headmistress or the Minister himself think I am too evil to be allowed in their world, that I must be ashamed of who and what I am, then maybe I don't want to be in their world." Harry's voice was full of pain and sorrow. Once he felt this place was his home. Now he just wanted to get away.

"Maybe your right, Harry. Maybe it's not the place for me either."

"Miss Granger … as I said, you did nothing wrong, though I am not sure you don't need to rethink your priorities. There is no reason for you to go."

"But Harry should?" the young witch asked. The older witch refused to meet her eyes.

"That might be problematic, Harry," Dumbledore said slowly. "There was a prophecy."

"A prophecy?" Harry replied.

Dumbledore told the group about how Trelawney had given the prophecy when she was applying form the job. The Headmaster recited it in full – _"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark lord approaches…"_ Professor McGonagall was shocked. Hermione was thinking fast trying to analyze the blank verse. Harry just shrugged.

"Seems like I have fulfilled it more than once, if it actually means anything."

"Yes but there may be a problem. You mentioned that you knew about horcruxes?"

"I mentioned that I'd heard the term. Doctor Strange explained them in more depth. I was one, but the soul shard was absorbed by Cyttorak when he first gave me my powers. The diary was another. It's also gone. The homunculus held a third shard of Riddle's soul. It's toast. Are there others?"

"We don't know." It sounded like it hurt the Headmaster to admit that.

"Well, if more pop up, I'll have to vanquish them too. In the meanwhile, why don't you arrest the thirty or so Death Eaters that came to the ritual? They all seemed to be casting Unforgivables like rice at a wedding."

"Oh my god!" Hermione cried. "I cast an Unforgivable." That silenced the group effectively. Harry thought back to the fight. Hermione's Cruciatus Curse may have saved his life. Only an Unforgivable was guaranteed to get through Voldemort's defenses. And he had Harry on the ropes.

"Hermione, the reasoning you used for my sorcery apply to this as well. You used a bad spell to save my life and helped defeat a dark lord. It does not make you evil."

"But it may send her to Azkaban," Dumbledore said.

"Again, what about those Death Eaters? Will they go to Azkaban this time? Or will they buy their way or lie their way free?" Harry's voice was rising. The three professors looked at each other.

"Perhaps it is better if both of you plan to leave Britain." Dumbledore said slowly. "It might be safest for you."

"And it keeps Harry in reserve if you ever need him again, is that it? You have your weapon against the Dark Lord just waiting?"

"It's better than Azkaban, girl. Take what you can get." Snape spewed.

"You can take your OWLs at the Salem Institute," Professor McGonagall added.

"The laws there are more forgiving of both sorcery and secrecy." Dumbledore advised. "I can prepare an admission packet for next term. You should both do well there." His voice dropped. "Perhaps it _is_ for the best."

After a bit more detail, Harry and Hermione left the Headmaster's office. Both were quiet. Harry reached out for Hermione's hand. She clasped his and a small smile spread on her lips.

"Maybe the whole day was not wasted," she whispered. Harry gently squeezed.

"You made a great partner out there."

"Maybe Bastion needs a sidekick?"

"No sidekicks. But I would love a partner."

"Partners then."

 **~~ The End ~~**

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